Sircilla, AP loom town in grave crisis
Updated: Aug 23, 2013 05:31:12pm
New Delhi, Aug 23 (KNN) Sircilla town of Andhra Pradesh has witnessed 374 suicide cases by artisans and weavers of handloom and powerloom sector since 1997 owing to low productivity, high operating costs, marketing problems etc, said Member of Parliament (MP) from Karimnagar, Ponnam Prabhakar.
“Out of 813 suicides which took place in the state since 1997 both in handloom and powerloom sector, 374 suicide cases are from Sircilla town alone,” said Prabhakar of the Congress party.
Raising the issue recently in Parliament, he said the low productivity, high operating cost, lack of diversification of products, coupled with marketing problems were severally affecting their incomes. They are caught in a debt trap and leading miserable lives. Unable to come out of debt trap, they are committing suicides in distress.
The state government is providing 50 per cent power tariff concession but it is not enough, he added.
“There is need to sanction funds for upgradation of power looms at Sircilla town of Karimnagar of the state. Andhra Pradesh is the third largest producer of cotton with about 76 lakh bales of fibre production out of 340 lakh bales produced in the country,” he stated.
There are 180 spinning mills and 4, 250 ginning mills in the state. However, cloth production is only 2239.40 lakh meters which includes the handloom sector.
There are about 60,000 plain over pick powerloom in the state, out of which 30,850 of them are located in Sircilla alone. The main production is white polyester cloth, cotton casement cloth, polyester and Blended yarn shirting and suiting etc, which are low quality fabrics.
Meanwhile, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL & FS) has conducted a study on Sircilla cluster and pointed out the immediate need for technology upgradation and induction of modern technology to improve the output, quality and productivity.
The semi-automatic looms are not eligible to get subsidy under technology upgradation fund scheme of the Central government. The Department of Handlooms and Textiles, Andhra Pradesh has recently submitted a proposal to the Centre for sanction of a special project. (KNN/GUNJ)
“Out of 813 suicides which took place in the state since 1997 both in handloom and powerloom sector, 374 suicide cases are from Sircilla town alone,” said Prabhakar of the Congress party.
Raising the issue recently in Parliament, he said the low productivity, high operating cost, lack of diversification of products, coupled with marketing problems were severally affecting their incomes. They are caught in a debt trap and leading miserable lives. Unable to come out of debt trap, they are committing suicides in distress.
The state government is providing 50 per cent power tariff concession but it is not enough, he added.
“There is need to sanction funds for upgradation of power looms at Sircilla town of Karimnagar of the state. Andhra Pradesh is the third largest producer of cotton with about 76 lakh bales of fibre production out of 340 lakh bales produced in the country,” he stated.
There are 180 spinning mills and 4, 250 ginning mills in the state. However, cloth production is only 2239.40 lakh meters which includes the handloom sector.
There are about 60,000 plain over pick powerloom in the state, out of which 30,850 of them are located in Sircilla alone. The main production is white polyester cloth, cotton casement cloth, polyester and Blended yarn shirting and suiting etc, which are low quality fabrics.
Meanwhile, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL & FS) has conducted a study on Sircilla cluster and pointed out the immediate need for technology upgradation and induction of modern technology to improve the output, quality and productivity.
The semi-automatic looms are not eligible to get subsidy under technology upgradation fund scheme of the Central government. The Department of Handlooms and Textiles, Andhra Pradesh has recently submitted a proposal to the Centre for sanction of a special project. (KNN/GUNJ)
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