The Tamil Nadu Federation of Power Looms Association has urged the Prime Minister to notify certain items in the reserve list for power looms so that the items are not produced in auto looms in the State.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the federation said power looms provided employment to 10 lakh people in the State and were the second highest provider of employment next to agriculture. Though the growth of the industry was good from 1992 to 2014, it faced challenges thereafter due to auto looms producing plain power loom fabrics, which also resulted in job loss.
The letter said that second-hand shuttle-less looms and new shuttle-less looms were involved in producing the plain woven fabrics that were being manufactured by plain shuttle power looms for many decades. “Instead of making value-added articles and innovative products, the auto looms were mostly producing the plain power loom articles, affecting us”, the letter said.
The federation said power looms did not get adequate orders due to this problem and over 50% of the units were lying idle. This lead to 40% job loss, with the most affected being women.
Hence, the federation wanted plain fabrics from 16s counts to 45s counts and up to 64 inch fabrics to be produced only in normal power looms.
It also wanted fabric weight less than 200 gram per square meter (GSM) to be produced only in power looms. These should be notified in the reserve list for power looms and should not be produced in auto looms.
