Bhubaneswar: In another step forward for promotion of khadi industries, Chief Secretary Sri Bijay Kumar Patnaik has directed the Board to expedite the process of construction of Khadi & Handicraft Mall in premises of Khadi & Village Industries Board functioning at Kharavel Nagar. The direction was given in a high level meeting held under his chairmanship in secretariat conference hall today. It has been decided in the meeting that Mall will be constructed in partnership between IDCO and Khadi & Village Industries Board.

CMD, IDCO , Sri Priyabrata Patnaik, present in the meeting has been advised to engage a professional architect for preparing architectural design of the building . Khadi board has also been advised to plan out the details of utilization of different floors in mall. It will be multi-storied mall with various facilities. Different verities of handicraft products along with handloom and khadi products will be kept in the mall for exhibition and sale.

Chief Secretary has advised IDCO to have optimum use of the land and leave open space for parking and other activities. It has also been decided that Khadi Board as the anchor operator of the Mall will also provide chances to credible societies and enterprises operating in the filed and handloom and handicraft to have their shops after due scrutiny of interested parties. The Principal Secretary Industries Sri T. Ramchandru along with Secretary Khadi Board Sri Damodar Jena and others participated in discussions.