MSR pledges support to weavers

By Our Special Correspondent

SIRCILLA (KARIMNAGAR), APRIL 8. The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president, Mr. M. Satyanarayana Rao, and the former Union Textiles Minister, Mr. G. Venkataswamy, visited this textile town on Sunday, consoled the grieving families of powerloom workers who committed suicide and pledged the party's support for their rehabilitation.

The Congress leaders found fault with the State Government for "sleeping" over a crisis that gripped the handloom and powerloom weavers of the area over a period of time, leading to a spate of suicide deaths in the past few months.

Sircilla town has been in the focus for some dubious reasons with unabated suicide of weavers, which has smudged its reputation as an important textile centre in the State, boasting of as many as 12,000 powerlooms. Over 35 weavers committed suicide in the past few months unable to make both ends meet with their traditional activity.

Leaders of different political hues began making a beeline to the town to pour out their sympathy for the suffering weavers and it was the turn of Mr. Satyanarayana Rao and Mr. Venkataswamy on Sunday. They first visited the house of Konda Kistaiah, who ended his life along with three other members of the family on April 3 and spoke to the lone survivor, four-year-old Shantipriya, who is now under the care of her grandmother, Amruthamma.

As the leaders drove through weavers' colonies - Rajivnagar, Gandhinagar, Padmanagar and Baddam Yellaiah Nagar - revenue officials were spotted conducting a survey of the affected families for the purpose of distributing relief in the form of free rice.

The aggrieved weavers' families told the Congress leaders that abnormal increase in the price of yarn, colours and other inputs and shrinking market for the cloth produced by them were reasons for their misery. Huge debt burdens forced the male members to commit suicide. The increase in power tariff was cited by many as "a death blow to the tiny powerloom units." "I earn Rs.1,800 a month on the four looms I have hired. The power bill accounts for Rs.600 and the rent of the looms another Rs.600 leaving a meagre profit of Rs.600 to run a big family", said Vemula Srinivas.

Addressing a gathering, the APCC(I) president warned that the party would launch an agitation if the Government failed to come out with a package to rescue the weaver families. He wanted that the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, make an early visit to the town to personally assess their problems and announce a rehabilitation package.

He regretted that representations made by his party leaders on how to rescue the weavers from distress were not taken seriously by the Chief Minister. He would again write to him a detailed letter on the immediate and long-term measures required to be taken. He said suicide was no solution to the problem and appealed to the weavers not to take the extreme step. He said the Congress president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, also enquired about the plight of weavers.

The Sircilla MLA, Mr. R. Papa Rao, said nearly half of the 12,000 powerlooms in the towns were disposed of as scrap. The Government failed to explore new markets for the handloom and powerloom sector.

The Karimnagar DCC president, Mr. R. Mruthyunjayam, party MLAs, Messrs. D. Sridhar, Satyanarayana Goud, J. Ratnakar Rao, D. Venkatesham, president, Federation of AP weavers associations, Mr. P. Prabhakar, NSUI State president, spoke.

Venkataswamy's plea

Our Karimnagar Staff Reporter writes:

Mr. Venkataswamy alleged that the anti-weavers policies of both the Central and State Governments were forcing the weaving community to resort to committing suicide.

The former Union Minister said if the Centre had not withdrawn the special schemes meant for weavers, such as supply of yarn, dyes, etc., there would not have been any suicide deaths in the State. He claimed that there weavers did not commit suicide during the Congress regime as its Government had provided yarn and dyes free of cost to the weavers in the country. Besides, it had provided a subsidy of Rs.3,000 to the weavers and cycles for marketing their products, he added.

Mr. Venkataswamy demanded the Government to provide subsidy for the weaving community on a par with the farmers.

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Section  : Southern States
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