Fillip for handicraft village

The handicraft village at the Janakala Kendraya premises has been upgraded following the Ape Gama concept, as a model handicraft village with creative crafts covering clusters such as masks, rush and reed, clay, dumbara items, cane and bamboo, metal based crafts, jewellery, musical instruments, textiles and batik, lace, lacquer and sesath, wood based crafts, stone based crafts, coconut, kithul, palmyrah based crafts and other related sectors.

The Ape Gama Village has craft houses, Maha Gamaya, Veda Ged ara (traditional doctor's clinic), vee bissa , flora and fauna including a mini zoo and other tourism attractions.

"All the craftsmen who were previously with the National Crafts Council in the Janakala Kendraya have been accommodated under the 'Ape Gama' village. The craftsmen have facilities to market their products and are closely linked to the tourism sector. as well," an Economic Deveopment Ministry spokesman said.

"The Ministry of Economic Development will purchase craft products from the craftsmen on a continuous basis and additional funds have been allocated through the Treasury," he said.