In what may be a first, handloom and powerloom weavers of Sircilla have been invited to a meeting by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday.
At a detailed review meeting held in Pragathi Bhavan here on Saturday, the Chief Minister threw up a plethora of questions to participants who included Ministers K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao and senior officers. He expressed anguish at the dire straits of the weavers and the alarming suicides and said there was an urgent need to ameliorate the situation and remove their difficulties.
Mr. Rao discussed at length what needed to be done for them. What action should be taken for those whose depended on handloom and powerloom industry ? What was required to make their profession profitable ? These were some questions for which he sought answers.
The Chief Minister felt a decision could be arrived at, only after discussing with the stakeholders and hence the move to invite them all to Hyderabad all the way from Sircilla, a press release from the CM Office said.
Among those who attended the review meeting were Chief Advisor Rajiv Sharma, Advisor G. Vivek, Chief Secretary S.P. Singh, Principal Secretaries Shanti Kumar and Ramakrishna Rao (Finance), Director, Handlooms Development Corporation Sailaja Rama Iyer, Telangana State Cooperative Bank Chairman Ravindra Rao and handloom weavers associations leader Jalla Markandeyulu.