Weavers JAC cautions prominent cine actors

Musheerabad: Handloom Weavers' Joint Action Committee chairman Dasu Suresh on Friday cautioned prominent cine heroes that they would have to face court if they resort to false campaigns by promoting sales of cloth produced by mill in the name of boosting handloom products.

Speaking to the media in the Adikmet JAC central office, he alleged that shopping malls were resorting to loot of the public by promoting sales of inferior products with the sole motive of making profits. Suresh announced holding of a 'Chalo Delhi' protest programme on December 2 seeking solutions to problems faced by handloom weavers. He said the JAC leaders would meet Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Irani and impress upon her the need for strict implementation of the Handloom Reservation Protection Act.

The JAC leader stated that 'incidents of public loot in the name of handloom cloths' were taken to the notice of Regional Deputy Enforcement Director Trimurthy Kumar. He said 80 to 90 per cent of the cloth being sold in Hyderabad was being projected as products of weavers, when actually they were machine made. This, he pointed out, amounted to cheating, while complaining to Kumar.

Suresh claimed that the second biggest racket in the State after land-grabbing was trade in textiles, with the figures touching an astounding Rs.1,000 crore mark. He alleged that largescale imitation silk textiles were being imported into Telangana from neighbouring States, citing the examples of the firms in Tamil Nadu (Kanchi, Salem, Satyamandalam, Kottur, Coimbatore, Palani), Andhra Pradesh (Hindupur, Madireddypalem, Yadiki, Jammalamadugu, Kadapa, Dharmavaram, Poddutur, Uravakonda) and Karnataka (Bengaluru, Yelahanka, Doddaballapur) and Baneras.

He alleged that while only white clothing should be manufactured on machines and sold after adding colours, as per the provisions of the Handloom Reservation Protection Act, 1985, handloom designs of weavers were prepared on machines to weaken the handloom trade across the country, resulting in loss of avocation of weavers. Consequently, he stated, the weavers were being forced to sell eatables and cloths on pushcarts. Such problems have already been taken to the notice of State Handlooms and Textiles Commissioner Shailaja Rama Iyer.

Among those present at the press meet were JAC Convener Ganji Muralidhar, Weavers' Development Foundation Vice-president Mandala Ranadheer, leaders Chaparthi Kumaraswamy and Nimmala Veeranna.