Stating that new restrictions in the National Handloom Development Programme were affecting the interests of Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies in the State, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to intervene and sort out the issues.
In his letter, a copy of which was released to the media here, Mr. Palaniswami said the clauses restricting incentives only for maximum of three years and fixing the cap for turnover at ₹30 lakh went against the interests of the societies in Tamil Nadu.
‘Incentives vital’
“In the earlier scheme, there was neither time limitation nor sales turnover as eligibility criteria, making it easier for the Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies to avail the marketing incentives,” he said. Under the new guidelines, only 285 societies with 53,140 weavers in the State would become eligible for the incentive, whereas 868 societies with 2,69,030 weavers were eligible earlier.
The ₹30 lakh ceiling on sales turnover would affect the sale of handloom goods to a large extent, cash flow in the societies would be severely affected, weaving activity would get disturbed and stock of handloom goods would be further accumulated, the Chief Minister contended.
“The Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies in Tamil Nadu are depending heavily on this marketing incentive to promote sales for many decades. Already the societies in the State are struggling hard to sell their handloom products, due to the impact of GST on handlooms and it becomes imperative that the Societies need continued support to liquidate the stocks,” he said.
According to the Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Co-operative Society Ltd, of the total 4.27 lakh handlooms in the State, 2.83 lakh handlooms were in cooperative fold producing about ₹450 crore worth of handloom cloth.
