Handloom weavers from Amodagiripatnam, Ayodhya Nagar, Nulumillu Centre of Vetappalem mandal in Prakasam district staged a demonstration on Saturday urging the Union Government to provide a hand-holding support for them to survive in the the times of the pandemic.
The weavers, led by National Federation of Handlooms and Handicrafts president M. Mohan Rao, raised slogans demanding an assistance of ₹3,000 for six months and supply of essential commodities, including rice, to the weavers some of whom were living a hand-to-mouth existence owing to the COVID-induced lockdown.
They demanded that the Centre allocate ₹5,000 crores for supply of free dhoti and sari to 23 crore BPL families, to ensure regular work to weavers through cooperative societies and to start procurement and market support scheme, besides waiving loans of cooperative societies and Individual weavers.
‘Compensation for wage loss’
The weavers should be provided with NABARD Refinance Scheme for the revival of the handloom sector. The government should earmark ₹500 crores from PM Cares Trust or under “Atmanirbhar Bharat” to compensate for wage loss to the handloom weavers and also provide ₹2,000 crores to procure piled-up fabric stock with cooperative societies and master weavers.
They wanted the Ministry of Textiles to reserve 24,000 tonnes of silk yarn from Central Silk Board and State Silk Boards to ensure the key raw material to weavers.
Moratorium on GST
The government should consider giving loan to handloom weavers under MUDRA scheme between ₹50,000 and ₹1 lakh at a concessional 3% interest rate.
They also wanted a three-year moratorium on GST on handloom and handicraft products.