The government has been urged by the Rashtra Chenetha Jana Samakhya to establish handloom textile purchasing units across Andhra Pradesh, to stop the migration of weavers. Among the requests was lifting GST on handlooms and enactment and enforcement of a new Act to contain the production of power looms which cause damage to the livelihood of weavers.
The organisation organised a State-level conference at Kandukuri Kalyana Mandapam near Gymkhana Grounds in Vijayawada so that the problems of the weavers could be discussed. The attendees of the meeting were 350 members of the organisation itself along with members from various weaver societies from 26 districts across Andhra Pradesh.
Samakhya founder-president and convenor Macharla Mohana Rao, speaking on the occasion, along with other speakers demanded the allocation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 600 crores from the Centre and State governments respectively in their budgets to help the weaving industry. Also requested were the sanctioning of Mudra loans and implementing Thrift fund cum savings security schemes properly to all the eligible weavers.
Conducting surveys over looms and sanctioning ID cards as per the survey, was something that was insisted by most of the attendees. The state government was also urged by the weavers to provide a subsidy of 30 per cent on silk, cotton and zari yarn.
They added that, every three months, department of the Handlooms and Textiles must review the prices of the yarn and fix reasonable rates for the materials. Samakhya State president Devana Veera Nageswar Rao, executive members Gunturu MalliKarjuna Rao, Madaka Rammohan, Gudla Nagaraju, Dasaradhi, S Murali, Gurumurthy and others attended the meeting.
