ITANAGAR, Jun 10: Aiming at revival of traditional earthen pottery making from Kamru (clay source), a village level consultative meeting was held on Saturday last at the community hall of Sala Potom village, located approximately 1.5 km away from Sala village under Darak circle in West Siang district.
The meeting was organized by the Darak Tourism and Social Welfare Foundation (NGO).
On the occasion, Jummo Potom, Managing Director of the Foundation, outlined the objectives of the meeting, significance of the proposed revival of traditional pottery making from Kamru and sought the suggestion from the villagers.
He stated that the key objectives of the NGO’s initiative, among others, are to encourage employment and income generation for the local villagers and promote rural economy & self reliance, to revive the heritage practices on pottery making from the clay and pass on to the next generation, to train the rural married couple on pottery making process from the professional pottery experts, to establish a small scale village industry on pottery making at Sala Potom village, to minimize Jhum cultivation practices which degrade environment by engaging some villagers in pottery skills and educate the optimum use of natural resources in sustainable approach.
The initiative also aims to encourage tourism avenues on traditional pottery and boost the village as a key clay pottery tourist circuit in West Siang district, to create better inter-connecting infrastructures, to encourage community participation besides research and documentation through several means, he added.
The villagers, on their part, lauded the proposed initiative of the DTSWF and endorsed their “agreement” to execute the pilot project, while assuring to support the NGO for this noble venture for rural empowerment.