Vijayawada: The state govt will soon finalise guidelines for GST reimbursement to handloom weavers, said handloom and textiles minister S Savitha.

She said that the govt will initiate all possible measures to bail out handloom weavers from crisis and added that the govt will organize handloom exhibitions in various countries to promote handloom stocks of Andhra Pradesh.

Responding to the queries raised by the members in the assembly on Tuesday, Savitha said that the state govt is committed to ensure employment for handloom weavers all through the year.

She said that the handloom sector was completely crippled during the previous YSRCP regime and alleged that the welfare of weavers was negelected by the previous regime as it did not provide marketing facilities for handloom clothes.

Several handloom workers committed suicide during the previous regime, she said and assured that chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and IT minister Nara Lokesh were determined to work for the upliftment of handloom weavers. “A special rebate of 20 to 30 per cent has been given by APCO for the sale of handloom garments. This apart, 40 per cent rebate has been given on the purchase of yarn, dyes and chemicals under thrift scheme. Marketing encouragement has also been given to handloom co-operative sectors and 50 per cent tariff concession has been provided for power loom units,” she said.

Only YSRCP workers benefitted from the Nethanna Hastham programme under Jagan's rule. However, our govt is granting old-age pensions to handloom workers aged above 50 years. We are also providing 200 units of free electricity to weavers and up to 500 units of free power to power loom workers, she informed and promised to launch a health insurance scheme for the weavers.

The minister said that they would organize a meeting of sellers and buyers soon to chalk out other schemes and added that they would set up 10 new clusters in collaboration with Aditya Birla Group. “Minister Nara Lokesh set up weaver shala in Mangalagiri and the MPs of Vizianagaram and Kurnool have also come forward to set up two weaver shalas in their constituencies. We request other MPs too to consider similar gesture to promote handloom sector,” said Savitha.

Source : The Times of India