Sualkuchi: Jatindra Kumar Baishya (57) is busy since Saturday, weaving 140 computer generated images of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on a traditional Assamese Cheleng Chador (an apparel worn around the neck by Assamese men) made of Muga silk. His employer Bancha Ram Baishya wishes to gift the chador to Mr. Kalam when he visits the largest silk village of the country on Tuesday.

Mr. Jatindra Kumar Baishya, a weaver of the Kusum Silk Factory with 16 looms, hopes to finish working on the gift before Mr. Kalam arrives. Fly shuttles of the other 15 looms have also been pressed into service. The weavers have been working with zeal to showcase their skills to the President.

A replica of the gift woven on a piece of silk cloth has also been kept on the premises of the production centre.

``After I was told that my production centre will be visited by the President, I was wondering as to what should be the gift befitting a person of his stature. Suddenly, the idea came to my mind that I can ask my weavers to weave his image on a traditional Assamese Cheleng Chador. I carved out the design on a punching card with the help of a photograph of the President published in a newspaper. I have spent about Rs. 2,000 in making this unique gift," Mr. Bancha Ram Baishya told The Hindu .

Weavers and helpers of the adjacent three production centres at Naktadal, which Mr. Kalam is scheduled to visit, are equally busy processing the Muga cocoons and reeling the golden thread, which is found only in Assam, and other associated activities.

Less than a km away from these production centres, Gita Kalita and her brother Ajanta Kalita of Kalitapara are also weaving Mr. Kalam's image on a Muga Cheleng Chador. The brother-sister duo is working almost round-the-clock to finish it by early Tuesday morning so that they can join other weavers of the village to go to the helipad to have glimpse of the President.

``I had a desire to present this gift personally and in the presence of these two weavers to the President. However, since these two looms or my production centres do not figure in Mr. Kalam's itinerary I will have to give the gift to our local MLA and also Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma to be handed over to the President,'' said Mr. Nilamoni Sharma, who ordered the brother-sister duo to weave this gift.

Mr. Kalam will become the first President to have visited this village, also known as Manchester of the East, when he lands at a specially built helipad on the banks of the Brahmaputra at 3.05 p.m. on Tuesday.

Located about 35 km from Guwahati, Sualkuchi has 4,478 families engaged in weaving with a total 17,000 looms. The yearly consumption of mulberry silk is 2 lakh kg and that of Muga and other allied silk is 98,000 kg. On an average the village produces about 31 lakh linear metres of Muga and mulberry silk worth Rs. 90 crore. It also exports variety of Muga silk products worth Rs. 1,200 annually to markets in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

The weavers are largely dependent on supply of raw mulberry silk yarn from Karnataka and China while the supply of Muga comes from upper Assam and also from the Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Of late the weavers have been facing a crisis due to imbalance in production and supply of raw silk and flooding of the market with cheaper Chinese Tasar silk variety that resembles the Muga silk.

Block Development Officer Deba Mishar said a memorandum had been prepared to apprise the President about the strength and weaknesses of Sualkuchi.

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