Kurnool: Centre urged to withdraw hike in GST on handlooms

Kurnool: The leaders of TDP and weavers Mallikarjuna and Minneppa have demanded the State and Central governments to withdraw the hike in GST from five to 12 per cent.

Speaking to the media in Yemmiganur on Tuesday, they said that the handloom sector would suffer badly due to the hike in GST.

Handloom sector is the second largest income generating sector after agriculture. Thousands of families, in all States across the nation, are earning daily bread depending upon the sector.

The State and Central governments instead of reviving the handloom sector, were adopting policies which harm the interests of weavers, they regretted.

The other leaders, Devendra and Lakshmanna, said that the handloom sector has been facing a huge crisis for the last two years due to pandemic situation. The woven clothes have been piled up as there is no business. The families of weavers were leading pathetic lives. The government instead sanctioning grants to the handloom sector is enhancing the GST to no need. At a time the GST has been enhanced to 5 to 12 percent, which is an unbearable burden to the weavers, the leaders said.

With the hike in GST, the cost of thread, jari, silk and colour have also gone up drastically. Due to increase in prices the weavers are unable to sell woven sarees in the market.

Several weavers that could not support their family members have taken extreme steps, stated Eshawar, Raju and Narasappa. The TDP leaders have urged the State and Central governments to save the handloom sector and the weavers from taking extreme steps.

The leaders have also demanded that the State and Central governments should immediately withdraw the hike in GST immediately. If the government does not take any initiative then they would be forced to stage statewide agitations on behalf of the Telugu Desam Party.