Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday unveiled a three-pronged strategy to aid distressed handloom and powerloom industries, assuring them that the State government would buy all the handloom fabrics produced in the State so that loom owners did not face marketing problems.
Every handloom would be enumerated and all those dependent on looms for livelihood would be identified, a release after a meeting of Mr. Rao with about 40 representatives of powerloom industry in Sircilla said. It was held as part of Janahitham programme of Mr. Rao launched on Friday. The release added that yarn and chemicals to loom owners would be supplied on subsidy. Financial assistance would be given to those weaving ordinary cloth.
The second strategy was to modernise powerlooms, mostly in Sircilla, to enhance their quality and production levels to that of Rapier looms that were popular in Surat. While the looms in Sircilla produced up to 40 mts of cloth a day, the Rapier looms produced over 150 mts a day. The cloth for uniforms of students in government schools and hostels and bedsheets in government hospitals would be lifted from these looms.
. By the third strategy, he wanted incentives to loom workers who migrated to other trades so that they could return to weaving. Mr. Rao said thrift scheme would be developed for workers in which their savings would be matched with equal grant from employers and government.
Loan against stock
He announced the setting up of an apparel park at Sircilla and asked Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao who was present to take steps in this regard. Four godowns would be constructed at Sircilla to enable loom operators to store their yarn and cloth
. As a railway line would be laid for Sircilla, he expected offtake of goods from there to Warangal and other destinations in the country.
