Weavers elated over government announcing incentive in Chirala

Chirala: Weavers' community has expressed its gratitude to the government for announcing an incentive of Rs 2,000 a month to each poor family. At the same time, the weaversappealed to the government to extend the scheme to all weavers also to the workers in allied sector.

The state government announced Rs 2,000 incentive to weavers having white ration cards as a support to the poor families. The Handlooms Department has been directed to conduct a survey in the State to determine the number of handlooms and weavers so that the government can launch the scheme soon.

Incentive will be given to one person in the family having the white ration card irrespective of number of weavers and any number of handlooms in the family. The government has also announced that it is not giving the incentive to the workers in the alleged sector.

Avvaru Rupa Venkateswarlu, a weaver in the Eepurupalem village, said the weavers are welcoming the initiative of the government.

He said the weaving is like a microindustry in which all adult family members work. He said that father and son mostly weave on the loom while the women help themin tasks like colouring and brushing the yarn,besides in preparing the warp and weft etc. He said though most of the families are divided already, they are working on the same loom and sharing the income.

He said the government should also consider the plight of the people who do not own a loom but working in the handloom sheds under the master weavers and societies and extend the incentive to at least two weavers in a family, and to all weavers working under the master weavers along with the workers whether they have ration cards.

The president of All India Handloom Rights Forum, Bandaru Jwala Narasimham, submitted a memorandum to Chief Secretary LV Subrahmanyam, demanding that the government extend the programme to all weavers including the workers in the allied sector. He said there are nine types of works in the allied sector.

He said the wages of the workers and weavers are low for a long time and they do not get work in the rainy season due to the moisture the pit and on the threads. He said the government should help all.

There used to be about 12,000 looms in Chirala cluster, but the number declined to 7,000 as per the recent survey conducted by the government. But the number of weavers registered under the societies increased exponentially and the weavers' community leaders alleged that 99 percent of them are fake.

Jwala Narasimham said many of the 760 plus societies in the area cash in on subsidy schemes and welfare programs for the weavers but they have not employed not even one weaver. He demanded an investigation into the functioning of the societies.