Members of various weavers organisations took out a rally in Belagavi on Monday urging the State government to procure saris directly from weavers to help them tide over the reduced demand and lower market price for their product.
They walked to the Deputy Commissioner’s office shouting slogans and holding banners.
District Weavers Association leader Ravi Patil said that the State government had a moral duty to save weavers from starvation. The State government should buy saris just as it buys crops grown by farmers by announcing minimum support price and by market intervention to stop fall in prices.
A weaver from the old city Maharudrappa Ganappa said that weavers were suffering at the hands of middlemen. The sahukars or moneylenders, who are providing cloth to weavers based on a buy-back agreement, were harassing weavers by buying low and selling high, he said. He recalled that in 2008, the State government bought saris which helped several weavers earn remunerative prices.
Zilla Nekara Vedike president Pandurang Dhotre said that the government should buy at least 15 lakh saris from weavers directly. He asked the government to avoid middlemen. He accused officers of the Department of Textiles of providing false information to the State government that led to the government cancelling plans to buy saris. He urged Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to buy saris directly from weavers.
Community leader Parashuram Dhage said that the State government had to drop plans for privatisation of power supply. He said that the State government wanted to privatise power supply only to help its corporate friends and not weavers.
Ramesh Sontakki, Srinivas Talukar, Narayan Kamkar and others were present.