KTR greets weavers on National Handlooms Day

Hyderabad: BRS party working president KTR ton Wednesday extended greetings to the weavers of the State on the occasion of National Handlooms Day. “The BRS is a 10-year-old progressive journey for the handloom sector, which has been struggling for decades. It is a golden age in the history of the country. A leader, who knows the difficulties of the weavers, the visionary, who brought good days to the handloom sector and the ruler who initiated innovative schemes is former CM KCR,” he said.

Reminding that the six-year budget of the united AP State for the handloom sector was ₹.600 crore, he said Rs 1,200 crore was given annually during the BRS party regime. “It was during KCR's tenure that the weavers got recognition and respect. Our Telangana is the address of many revolutionary schemes. For the first time in the country, handloom mitra scheme had been brought with 50 per cent subsidy. The thrift scheme is a special savings scheme in the name of Netannaku Cheyutha. In the name of insurance, ₹ 5 lakh had been given to the weavers and 36,000 families of weavers had been given a lot of support,” he recalled.

KTR said as many as 10,150 handloom workers had been given loan waiver of up to Rs 1 lakh and Rs 29 crore loan waiver and aasara pensions for handloom artisans. There are many historical decisions that increased the self-respect of Padmashalis during BRS party’s rule, he said. He said the distribution of Bathukamma sarees to the women of Telangana was a programme introduced by them for the welfare of the weavers. He said setting up of Apparel Park in Sircilla Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal were the sensational decisions taken by his government.

He alleged that the lives of the weavers had been shattered under the Congress and BJP rule. “During the NDA regime, for the first time, GST was levied on the handloom textiles and All India Handloom Board was abolished and the All India Handicrafts Board was also abolished. The All India Powerloom Board was abolished and the handloom workers' trip scheme was also abolished. The house--workshed schemes were abolished and the Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana was also abolished,” he criticised.

KTR said the subsidy on yarn had been reduced from 40 per cent to 15 per cent. He claimed that the handloom sector is in crisis again under CM Revanth Reddy’s rule. He alleged that every day the death knell was sounded in the families of the handloom weavers. Stating that both the governments should open their eyes even now, he urged the handloom sector to come out of the crisis. He demanded that the schemes implemented during the BRS regime should be continued in Telangana.