Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Now, weavers' problem is politicised

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI Aug 5. In the highly politicised environment of Tamil Nadu, even poverty and a mass-feeding of weavers have become a bone of contention between the Government and the opposition DMK.

On Tuesday, the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, will launch a sale of cheap sarees and dhotis through fair price shops, as part of a relief package for poor weavers. And the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, who was to have gruel with weavers at Ammayarkuppam in Tiruvallur district, called off the programme tonight, since he did not want to ``add to their problems''.

When the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, last month, appealed to party functionaries and cadres to open gruel centres for weavers, it snowballed into a political battle. Village communities and weavers started community-feeding programmes, before the DMK stepped in. Thereafter, the Government and the ruling party could not remain mute spectators.

The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, who was already working on the problem, announced a package of relief measures for the weavers, including issue of free rice through the PDS. AIADMK functionaries, on their part, organised `biriyani feasts' to counter the DMK campaign.

Given the fiscal crisis facing the State, the Government could neither afford to procure the sarees and dhotis nor distribute them free. Yet, it decided to lift a portion of the stocks to provide some relief to the weavers. According to official sources, a Rs. 45-crore scheme has been worked out.

The Government will incur an expenditure of Rs. 22 crores to procure the sarees and dhotis and get the remaining funds through a sale of these products — a saree at Rs. 40 and a dhoti at Rs. 30. ``These are rock bottom prices and we hope there will be a market for it. The Government has struck on this median path.''

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