CHENDAMANGALAM:For 80-year-old V P Rajan and wife Thankamani, natives of Karimpadam on the outskirts of Paravoor town, looms at home have been their main source of livelihood since the 1950s.
The furious floods have put the world-renowned Chendamangalam handloom textile industry on the verge of extinction. For damaged looms are forcing weavers to look for other sources of livelihood.
“I have been a handloom weaver since I was 10,” Rajan said.
“Earlier, I used to work in mills. After marriage, we installed two looms in our house. My wife and I use the looms. On August 15, the water level increases suddenly and we had to leave the entire looms behind and shift to relief camps. After returning, it was a heartbreaking scene.“Two looms are damaged completely. Yarns are drenched in water. We don’t know whether they can be repaired.”
There are more than 200 weavers who work on looms at their homes in the Paravoor and Chendamangalam regions. The yarn, thread and dye solutions are provided by various handloom weavers cooperative societies. Weavers work at home and provide the finished product to these societies, getting around `60 for a metre-long textile.
There are five such societies functioning in Paravoor. Each society has its own handloom manufacturing units. Of the five, the worst-affected was the Chendamangalam Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society. Sojan P A, secretary of the society, said the entire manufacturing unit was submerged during the floods, damaging 45 looms.“This cooperative society, founded in 1957, is one of the oldest in the locality,” he said.“The society has 115 members. There are 45 weavers working on looms in the manufacturing unit and the rest work at home. Around 100 looms associated with this society have been damaged.”
Eighty-year-old K P Kumaran, the first member of the Chendamangalam Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society, remembers a flood that washed off the area in 1961. “However, the impact of that flood was not as intense as this year’s flood. The looms were safe and work remained unaffected,” he said.Handloom Employees Union state committee member and Paravoor Handloom Weavers Service Cooperative Society president T S Baby said at least Rs 40,000 will be required to repair each loom.
“It will take at least five to six months to repair the looms. Weavers won’t have any work till the looms are repaired. Unlike other sectors, weavers have been affected the worst as all raw material and looms are lost,” he said. With the elderly counting among the majority of weavers, the Chendamangalam handloom industry is in crisis. For the new generation does not appear to be interested in working in this sector.
“We don’t know whether weavers will repair their looms and continue with weaving. Aid from the government and other organisations is required urgently to save the Chendamangalam handloom industry from extinction,” Baby said.