CM Revanth showers sops on weavers

Hyderabad: In a move to promote handloom products in the State, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has announced that the government would distribute two sarees each to the 63 lakh Self Help Group members annually and directed the officials to come up with good designs and quality sarees.

Accordingly, the government has decided to give the orders to manufacture 1.3 crore sarees to weavers every year, he said while inaugurating the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) on Monday.

Stating that the State government had released Rs 290 crore arrears payable to weavers, he said handloom loans worth Rs 30 crore secured by weavers would also be waived.

The government had decided to name the newly established IIHT after freedom fighter and Telangana ideologue Konda Laxman Bapuji. Instructions were issued to officials to issue orders to this effect. He also instructed officials to prepare an action plan for the conduct of elections to cooperative societies (Samakhya Sanghalu).

The CM said that in the past, Telangana students had to go to Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to pursue studies in the IIHT. He appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Piyush Goyal to set up IIHT in Telangana, and the Centre responded positively. The Skill University was already launched to impart skill training to students in the State. Necessary steps would be taken to set up the IIHT campus in the Skill University next year,

Revanth Reddy added.