‘Sari’, can’t accept your proposal: Finance Dept to minister

BENGALURU: Minister proposes but the Finance Department disposes. Textile Minister Shrimanth Patil had hit upon an idea to help weavers, who were struggling to stitch their lives together, thanks to the pandemic outbreak. He wanted to procure saris from them and gift them to Covid warriors – doctors, nurses, pourakarmikas, anganwadi and ASHA health workers and Home Guards.

This was estimated to cost Rs 36 crore. But the Finance Department has rejected his proposal citing financial crisis. Karnataka has about 54,000 handloom and 1.4 lakh powerloom weavers, mostly concentrated in Belagavi, Bagalkot, Chitradurga, Vijayapura, Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagaram districts. Minister Patil’s plan was to gift the saris to the Covid warriors by Dasara or Deepavali last year.

A senior official from the Textile Department said that the minister wanted to procure 6 lakh saris from weavers, with the price ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 600 per sari and gift two each to 3 lakh Covid warriors. The cost estimate of Rs 36 crore was sent to the Finance Department for approval. But the department rejected the minister’s proposal.

Sources from the minister’s office said that after the Finance Department rejected their file, they had sent it again. This time, the Minister had spoken to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. “At present, the government is not in a position to spend Rs 36 crore on the purchase of saris. It is a huge amount and not advisable. We were told that this time too the Finance Department will reject our file,” said a Textile Department official.

The state government has launched Nekara Samman Yojane, under which financial aid of Rs 2,000 will be transferred to handloom weavers . A sum of Rs10.96 crore has been allocated towards this. The government has approved to transfer funds to more than 37,000 weavers across the state. This apart, loans of weavers have also been waived up to a certain amount. “When that is the case, procuring sarees will be an additional financial burden,’’ said the official.