Handloom weavers cry for bailout package in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati, Feb 3 (KNN) The Andhra Pradesh weavers on Thursday urged the state and central governments to immediately intervene to bail out the crisis-hit handloom sector.

Hundreds of Andhra weavers who turned up at the state-level handloom weavers meet held in Vijayawada demanded an immediate withdrawal of GST on handloom products.

Addressing the meeting held at Kandukuri kalyana mandapam, Rashtra Chenetha Jana Samakhya (RCJS) state convenor Macherla Mohan Rao said that millions of handloom workers were struggling with poverty due to a lack of support from the governments.

"The failure of the government, at least in giving the artisans identification cards to the handloom workers, had disallowed them to get Mudra loans to continue their work," he said.

He pointed out that the state government had been deliberately avoiding the issuance of ID cards to reduce the number of beneficiaries under the YSR Nethanna Hastham scheme.

Rao alleged that handloom weavers were being misled to switch over to power looms and that owners of power looms were being encouraged to switch to auto looms with a view to allowing multinational companies to encroach on the entire sector.

RCJS leader Devana Veera Nageswara Rao demanded that the government immediately set up production and marketing centres in all the handloom weaver towns in the state.

He said that all the weavers, including the master weavers, should be given loans at just 4 percent interest to generate employment.  (KNN Bureau)