ERODE: Power loom weavers heaved a sigh of relief as the state government increased the limit of free electricity for power looms from 750 units to 1,000 units and for hand looms from 200 to 300 units. Apart from this, power tariffs for more than 1,000 units has been reduced from Rs 1.40 to 70 paisa per unit.
P Kanthavel, organising secretary of Federation of Tamilnadu Powerlooms Associations, said, “Over six lakh power looms function in the state, out of which nearly 4 lakh power looms are in Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts. Unfortunately, this sector is facing downfall since 2015 due to several reasons”
“We faced many difficulties due to this and we had urged the government to increase free electricity limit for power looms and to reduce the power tariff. We had talked about this to the ministers who had come for campaigning for the Erode East bypolls. We thank Chief Minister MK Stalin, Ministers V Senthil Balaji, MP Saminathan, S Muthusamy and R Gandhi for this,” he added.