Sircilla weavers fight all odds, design 1 crore zari-sarees for Bathukamma

HYDERABAD: Beating all odds, weavers from Sircilla have managed to manufacture 287 new saree designs as opposed to 150 last year. They have also met their target of manufacturing one crore Bathukamma sarees by working day and night in the last couple of months, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. This year, the sarees are in two coloured zaris­­—  golden and silver, unlike last year.  

Out of total sarees, while 91 lakh are 6.3-yard-long sarees and another 8 lakh were of nine-yard length.

Handlooms and Textiles Minister KT Rama Rao, on Tuesday, inspected the displays of Bathukamma sarees at Haritha Plaza Hotel in the city. The distribution of sarees will begin across the State from October 9, a week ahead of the festival. This year, the sarees will be delivered to the beneficiaries at their doorstep in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

“The sarees will be first delivered to the Collectors concerned and later on door-to-door distribution will be done by village and ward committees,” said an official. 

The Textile industry was given permissions to resume work in mid May amidst lockdown, however, several looms could not restart work due to unavailability of yarn and other raw materials. Looms were shut for more than 40 days, due to the lockdown.

“Because of the pandemic, we thought that we will only be able to complete 70 per cent of the target. Every year the production starts in March, this year it begun towards the end of May. To meet the deadline, the looms were operated in two shifts - day and night. It was challenging as every time a Covid case surfaced we had to shut the entire loom for 14 days,” said  Shravan Manda, Creative Director, Telangana State Handloom Weavers Cooperative (TSCO).

The scheme, which was launched in 2017 to provide employment to the weavers, has helped over 7,000 weavers of Sricilla.