Sircilla Powerlooms limp back to normalcy

Karimnagar: The powerlooms industry which remained lull for more than six months has picked up again with the work of manufacturing yarn for school uniforms of government schools across the State. The works which started four months ago are going on at a brisk pace so that the material could be handed over to schools in time. After the formation of Telangana and with the initiation taken by Information Technology Minister and local MLA KT Rama Rao, the lives of the handloom workers changed for the good in Rajanna-Sircilla district.

Keeping in view the welfare of weaver's community and to provide them employment opportunities, the government started giving bulk orders for the manufacturing of Bathukamma sarees every year along with the school uniforms. It also established the biggest textile park in Sircilla for providing them continuous work. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the works came to a grinding halt for over six months.

With the advent of vaccine and with the government giving nod for opening of schools from February 1, the weavers got the work of manufacturing school uniforms. There are more than 25,000 families dependent on the textile industry in Sircilla. With the bulk orders given by the State government four months ago, each weaver is earning around Rs 16,000 to Rs 24,000 per month.

Minister KT Rama Rao had advised the weavers to manufacture clothes using modern and advanced methods so that Sircilla weavers get a brand image not only for Bathukamma sarees but also for all the clothes manufactured by them.

Meanwhile, weavers alleged that they were not getting the 10 per cent of yarn subsidy for the last three years, which was announced by the IT Minister.

Every year, the government is giving orders of more than Rs 300 crore of Bathukamma sarees, but for the past three years, it did not give yarn subsidy which is around more than Rs 2 crore to the weavers' community.

In 2018, the government has given order for 6 crore metres cloth and in 2019 around 6.75 crore metres for manufacturing of Bathukamma sarees. Last year, the government gave an order of 7 crore metres cloth investing Rs 330 crore for 129 Max Societies of 131 SSI units present in the textile park of the district.

There are around 7,000 weavers engaged in manufacturing of Bathukamma sarees and each weaver should get around Rs 30,000 to 40,000 subsidy from the government. However, only a few of them, around 155, got a subsidy amount of Rs 25 lakh deposited in their bank accounts.