The state government will soon invite experienced weavers from each district to Hyderabad for a meeting to draft an action plan for the welfare of weavers, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has said.
The action plan will be drafted after obtaining the opinions and suggestions of experienced weavers during the meeting to extend a helping hand to weavers through the government.
During an interaction with weavers at Kaguvada village near here on Saturday on the second day of Indiramma Bata programme, the chief minister said the government would hereafter interact with the beneficiaries before drafting any such welfare programme for them.
The government was implementing several programmes for the benefit of weavers for which Rs 200 crore was allocated in the budget including waiver of loans obtained by weavers cooperative societies and individual weavers. It waived off loans amounting to about Rs 96 crore covering 1,900 societies and also Rs 46-crore loans taken by individual weavers benefiting 27,000 families across the state. Reddy announced waiver of loans amounting to Rs 56 lakh to Umasankar Weavers Cooperative Society and Rs 5 lakh to individuals from Kaguwada Weavers Colony with immediate effect. Kiran Kumar Reddy said that out of the 6,500 weaver families in the district, about 4,370 were receiving pension and promised to provide house-sites and houses to weavers who do not have a house. He directed the officials to buy land if required and build houses for weavers in the village.
In the morning, the CM played cricket with students of the AP Tribal Welfare Residential School at Malli and gave some cricket tips to them on how to bat and bowl. Minister for medical education K Murali Mohan Rao joined the chief minister and the students in the game. Ministers D Prasada Rao and S Vijayarama Raju, MLAs K Bharati and N Sugrivulu, collector Saurab Gaur, joint collector P Bhaskar and superintendent of police KVV Gopala Rao accompanied the chief minister.