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The government has lined up a roughly Tk 50 crore project aimed at developing and expanding the production of muslin fabrics in the country.
Under the project, styled “Bangladesh’s Golden Tradition Muslin Yarn Making Technology and Recovery of Muslin Fabrics (Phase-2)”, a training centre will be set up at the Dhakai Muslin House in Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj, according Project Director Ayub Ali.
Besides, a testing laboratory will be set up at the hub for muslin textile research while the number of spinners available will be increased to 300, he added.
Ali, also chief planning officer of the Bangladesh Handloom Board (BHB), went on to say that by the end of phase one, which began in July 2018 and concluded in June 2021, the number of trainee weavers under the project had gone from a measly six to 75.
Since then, the number of trainee weavers at Muslin House has gone on to hit 226 at present.
Similarly, phase two of the project will have a three-year tenure.
BHB sources said a development project proposal in this regard will be submitted to the Ministry of Textiles and Jute later this month, after which it will be sent to the Planning Commission for final approval.
The BHB was supposed to bring muslin fabrics to the domestic market by the middle of this year but Ali said they could not keep this commitment for various reasons.
“There is no end to development in the making of this elite fabric, with which it costs about Tk 6-7 lakh to make a sari. As everyone can’t afford this, we are now testing if it can be used for simpler clothes. Let’s see what happens,” he added.
Phase one of the project, which involved Tk 12.1 crore, came into being after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the Ministry of Textiles and Jute in October 2014 if the long-lost craft could be restored.
A committee for this purpose was eventually formed consisting of experts from the BHB, Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation, Cotton Development Board, Bangladesh University of Textiles, University of Dhaka and Rajshahi University.
Although they were handed a much larger budget, the work was completed for only Tk 4 crore and when the BHB offered to return the rest, the government decided to expand the project and connected the construction of Muslin House to it.
As such, Muslin House was built on the banks of Shitalakhya River in the Tarab municipal area, the air around which is suitable for weaving muslin cloth.
In the first phase of the project, a research team featuring experts and spinners crafted 19 muslin fabrics, from which six saris, seven veils and six sample cloths were made.
Following their breakthrough, the team claimed that the fabrics are similar to the muslin preserved in the UK’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and National Museum of Bangladesh.
Manjur Hossain, chief scientific officer of the project, said they will find more advanced cotton varieties for spinning muslin. Currently, the cotton with which they are making the required yarn has a lot of seeds in it.
“Farmers will also benefit if there are less seeds and so, a research centre for this purpose has been set up on four bighas of land inside the Rajshahi University campus, where phuti carpus cotton is being cultivated,” he added.
Muslin is a symbol of Bangladesh’s golden heritage and nobility. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, Greek tourists Pintoni, Taylor, Urey and others described the muslin of Bengal in their writings.
Among the different types of cotton textiles, Dhakai Muslin was well-known all over the world. Muslin was made from very smooth yarn prepared from phuti carpus cotton.
In the medieval period, muslin cloth made by weavers of Dhaka became a status symbol for the rich and aristocratic class. In 1747, Dhakai Muslin exports fetched Tk 28.5 lakh, the researchers found.
The fall of the Mughal Empire, lack of patronage from British rulers, expansion of the East India Company, Industrial Revolution in England, imposition of high taxes on muslin and the cutting of the fingers of weavers were the main causes behind the loss of muslin cloth since the middle of the 19th century.
(TDS)
