With the D-Day fast approaching for the distribution of Bathukamma sarees, the district administration has called upon powerloom weavers of Sircilla textile town to weave only Bathukamma sarees for the next 20 days to achieve the targeted production.
The powerloom weavers have so far weaved 55 lakh sarees against the target of 90 lakh. The rest would be weaved on a mission mode in the coming 20 days. At present, 20,000 looms have been deployed to produce the sarees and additional 2,000 looms would be added to increase the production.
Stating that the State government has placed orders for sarees at a cost of ₹280 crore, Collector B. Venkatarama Reddy said the government may not place orders in future if weavers fail to achieve the targeted production by October 10. He said the administration would appoint special officers to oversee the production of sarees by visiting powerloom sectors in various localities in the town.
Responding to the Collector’s plea, the powerloom associations have promised to produce only Bathukamma sarees till October 10 to achieve the target and win over the confidence of the government to secure regular orders to the powerloom sector.
The association leaders also hailed the Collector’s decision to provide wages for 20 days to old weavers and others.
AD (Handlooms and Textiles) Ashok Rao, DRO Ravinder and others were also present.