KTR: Urged to restart welfare schemes for weavers

Hyderabad: Extending greetings to weavers on the occasion of National Handloom Day, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao urged the Central and State governments to recognise the contribution of weavers to the society and continue the beneficial schemes to bail out the handloom sector. He urged them to continue the beneficial welfare and development schemes for weavers and bail out the handloom industry from the crisis. In a statement, Rama Rao said Telangana made significant progress in the handloom sector during the ten-year BRS tenure, calling it a ‘golden age’ for weavers in the country’s history. He attributed the progress of weavers to the visionary leadership of former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who launched several innovative schemes to uplift the sector. Under the BRS regime, the annual budget for the handloom sector was increased to Rs 1,200 crore, as against Rs 600 crore in six years under previous governments of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He recalled the major initiatives undertaken by the BRS, including the ‘Chenetha Mitra’ subsidy scheme, ‘Nethannaku Cheyutha’ savings fund and ‘Nethannaku Bima’, under which 36,000 weavers’ families were provided life insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh. Additionally, a loan waiver of Rs 29 crore was given to 10,150 handloom workers, as well as a support pension for artisans. Rama Rao also mentioned the distribution of Bathukamma sarees to Telangana women, which helped weavers earn a remunerative income, setting up of the Apparel Park at Sircilla and the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park at Warangal as transformational projects. He likened the BJP government to policies detrimental to the handloom sector, including the imposition of GST on handlooms and the abolition of various support boards and schemes by the Central government. He said that under the Revanth Reddy Government, the handloom sector of Telangana is again in crisis and news of weavers’ suicides are again coming in every day.