Mysuru: The Gowri and Ganesha festivals promise to be a double celebration for more than one reason this year. With Mysuru silk sarees being sold at a huge discount this festival season, women are rushing to the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation showroom in the city to buy them. It's after all, not every day that you can buy a saree costing Rs 15,000, for just Rs 4500. Tuesday saw long queues of women outside the showroom where CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and Sericulture Minister Sa Ra Mahesh presented the sarees to the first five women customers, who had waited since morning for this moment, around 3.30 pm.
In more good news for women, the Chief Minister revealed that the Mysore silk sarees would be offered at a discount across the state in phases. Currently, 5,000 sarees are being offered at a discount, according to KSIC MD Neela Manjunath. They are of pure silk with gold zari borders. The government has given the corporation a subsidy of Rs 5 crore to help it give the discount. The five showrooms offering the discounted sarees are in Mysuru, Bengaluru, Channapatna, Belgaum and Davangere.
Interestingly, the sarees are being given to Aadhaar card holders on a lottery basis, according to Ms Manjunath. Although the scheme was announced for the Varamahalakshmi festival in August, it fell through as the code of conduct was in force for the Urban Local Body election at the time. Asked if it would be extended to other festivals as well, Ms Manjunath said no decision had been taken on this as yet. Mysure silk sarees, which cost around Rs 4,000 each over a decade ago, are now sold for around Rs 12,000 mainly due to the increase in the gold rate.
