RAJANNA-SIRCILLA: As many as 500 weavers and powerloom workers in Sircilla, who were unemployed for the past three months due to lack of work orders, are now engaged in preparing flags and banners for various political parties from both the Telugu states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Most of the workers are women, with men being primarily involved in transportation.
A local agency had secured orders from several other agencies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for preparing the campaigning material. These agencies have reportedly requested the government to exempt them from paying taxes.
Meanwhile, Telangana Powerloom Workers Union State General Secretary Kurapati Ramesh on Thursday announced that unemployed powerloom workers are organising a huge public meeting called ‘Netanna Garjana’ on Saturday. He requested weavers, powerloom workers and their families to attend the event and make it a grand success in order to mount pressure on the government to provide them with employment opportunities.
Weavers in crisis due to pending bills: KTR
BRS working president KT Rama Rao criticised the Congress government for penalising weavers for political reasons. In an open letter addressed to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday, he urged the government to uphold all ongoing welfare initiatives for the weavers.
The cessation of welfare activities for weavers, particularly the Bathukamma saree production, has directly impacted around 30,000 powerloom weavers in the state. Due to the non-payment of pending bills, halted during elections due to MCC, master weavers are facing financial crises, affecting power loom workers, Rama Rao claimed.