The Handmade Paper Institute will be up and running with funds coming in after six years.
The ailing city-based Handmade Paper Institute is set to get a new lease of life as the national Khadi and Village Industries Commission has decided to provide funds to the institute again.
In the absence of funding by the commission for six years, this institute located in Shivajinagar had to suspend its training course on handmade paper manufacturing.
The Handmade Paper Institute was started in 1940. Its year-long course on manufacturing of handmade paper was quite popular among students across the state. Director of the institute, SS Shewale, said that since the inception, the funding for running the course as well as the manufacturing unit came from the National Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
The funding took care of the day-to-day running of the course as well as maintenance of the hostel building for students at Wakdewadi, on old Mumbai-Pune highway. However, six years ago, the commission stopped the funding citing administrative reasons.
“While the Union government provided us with funds for the institute, the functioning of the institute was looked after by the Khadi and Village Industries board of the government of Maharashtra. So, the commission stopped funding and directed us to get funds from the state government six years ago. However, it was not possible for us to arrange for the same overnight,” he said.
The lack of funding not only resulted in suspension of the course, but also led to the hostel building running to seed. The once graceful building, owing to the neglect meted out is in a shambles.
“The good news is that after six years of intense lobbying, the commission has agreed to resume funding for the institute and maintenance of the hostel from this year. In lieu of this promise, we have admitted 21 students for this year’s course. At present, we have three instructors,” added Shewale.
The maintenance of the hostel building will be taken up soon with the budget for the same being drawn up by Shewale.
The manufacturing unit is also set to see major changes due to the public-private partnership with M/S Publishers. The private partner will be responsible for the publicity and marketing of the products as well as modernisation of the equipment.
The handmade paper manufactured by this institute was used for printing the wedding cards for the marriages of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and even her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. Also, the Constitution of India was printed on the paper manufactured by this institute.
“In spite of its glorious history, when it comes to investing in the upkeep of the institute and propagating its products, the attitude of the government leaves much to be desired,” said Shewale.
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