RAJSHAHI: 'Silky Rajshahi' is the brand name of Rajshahi as the city's silk has a heritage across the country since immemorial time, said participants at a participatory discussion yesterday, reports BSS. They viewed as many people both in home and abroad know Rajshahi as birth place of silk and its industries so the brand name is very much meaningful and significant. The observation came in a district branding workshop styled ‘Silky Rajshahi’ at Circuit House conference hall. Representatives of all stakes concerned including government, private and professional entities joined the workshop and took part in its group discussions. District Administration hosted the workshop in association with Cabinet Division and Access to Information (A2I) Programme of Prime Minister's office.
Deputy Commissioner Kazi Ashraf Uddin addressed the meeting as chief guest while Director (E-Services) of A2I Programme Dr Abdul Mannan and its E-service specialist Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan and Domain Specialist Shirin Shabnom spoke as focal person. During his keynote presentation, Mohammad Salahuddin, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), narrated various aspects supporting the district branding.
He told the meeting that there are head offices of Bangladesh Silk Development Board and Sericulture Research and Training Institute including a state-owned silk factory and more than 13 private-sector showrooms in Rajshahi. Outputs of both sericulture farming and industries here are adjudged as the main silk supplier to all over Bangladesh. Around one lakh manpower is directly or indirectly involved in the sector. Besides, more than 14,000 women are employed in the sector contributing a lot towards local economy. Highlighting the enormous potentialities of the traditional silk sector in Rajshahi speakers viewed that sericulture, a labour-intensive, agro-based industry, is ideally suited to the socioeconomic conditions of the country.