Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday lamented that the weaver community was left in lurch and demanded the government to form a task force to address their issues on a war footing on Wednesday.
Senior leader Gudur Narayana Reddy pointed out that the allocation of ₹338 crore in the budget for weavers’ welfare and progress was not sufficient as there were no allocations for schemes like the Integrated Handloom Development, Telangana Handloom Weavers’ Thrift Fund, Integrated Skill Development, ‘Chenetha Mithra’, marketing support, credit support, ‘Pavala Vaddi’ and others.
Mr. Reddy pointed out that government has allocated ₹3,000 crore for shepherds for providing them sheep whereas just 10% of that amount has been earmarked for weavers with no subsidies or tariff cuts or health schemes. Cloth from weavers was not being purchased properly and Bathukamma sari orders were not given to weavers evenly with those from Sircilla getting preference.
Elections too, were not held to the weavers’ cooperatives for the past four years and the TS Handloom Weavers’ Co-operative Society Ltd. (TSCO) was not remitting the amounts to the weavers from whom it has purchased cloth. The government therefore should hold a meeting with the elders of the weaver community and discuss the issues being faced by weavers, he added.