RAJANNA-SIRCILLA: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao on Friday said about 10,000 weavers will get employment in Sircilla Apparel Park in the next few years, and 80 per cent of the jobs would be filled with women. “They will easily earn salaries of Rs 10,000 to 12,000 per month,” he said..
Speaking after laying the foundation stone for Gokaldas Images garments manufacturing unit at the Apparel Park near Peddur in Sircilla, the Minister said the setting up of the Apparel Park in Sircilla was the dream of local weavers. Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister late YS Rajashekhara Reddy promised to establish a park in 2005, but the dream project came through only under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, he said.
Stating that Gokaldas Images would start functioning in the next six months, the Minister assured that steps would be taken to start the remaining industries to be established in 60 acres land in the coming two to three years. Gokaldas will produce clothes of international standards and also provide facilities to employees on par with international standards. Besides babycare center, medical facilities would also be provided to workers, Rama Rao said.
Pointing out that Telangana was the highest cotton producing State in the country, he said the best quality cotton is also produced in Telangana and not in Punjab or Maharashtra. “This has been announced by the South Indian Mills Association,” he said.
Subsequently, with the objective of providing the best price to farmers as well as employment to jobless youth, the State government came up with a new Telangana Textile and Apparel Policy and approached leading textile industries in the country to set up their units in the State. To hep Sircilla weavers and bail them out of financial crisis, a number of programmes were taken up by the Chief Minister after State formation, he said.
Now, the community people are able to earn Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per month since they have been given the orders for Bathukamma sarees and Rajiv Vidhya Mission uniforms. To develop weavers as owners, the government has come up with ‘Worker to Owner” scheme and is constructing 400 sheds in Apparel Park. Besides taking up a programme to modernise powerlooms in a big way, 50 per cent subsidy on power bills was also provided to weaver, the Minister said.
Pointing out that the Central government had announced in Parliament that Telangana had the least number of farmers’ suicides, he said earlier, about 8 weavers used to commit suicide every week. The problem was overcome by introducing different types of welfare schemes for them, he said.
Referring to the Chief Minister’s recent announcement to provide insurance facility to weavers under Chenetha Bima scheme, the Minister assured to take steps to implement the scheme as early as possible.
Rama Rao instructed collector D Krishna Bhaskar to enroll the names of women who were interested in undergoing training to work in Gokaldas Images.
Yarn depot in Sircilla: KTR
Rajanna-Sircilla: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday said the State government will initiate steps to establish a yarn depot in Sircilla after discussing the issue with owners of spinning mills in the cotton industry. “This will be a permanent solution to the problems faced by weavers,” he said. Stating that the welfare of weavers was one of the major objectives of the State government, the Minister said weavers in the State were doing quality work and assured them remunerative prices for their work.
Rama Rao, along with Handlooms and Textiles Secretary Shailaja Ramaiyer, conducted a review meeting with officials and owners of looms to discuss weavers problems in Sircilla Collectorate on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister observed that production of quality Bathukamma sarees was being carried out within the time frame. So far, Rs 2,000 worth of orders were given to Sircilla weavers, Rama Rao said, adding that the textile industry had suffered due to the Covid pandemic last year.
The weavers informed the Minister that they were facing difficulties to run looms as several designs were introduced in the manufacture of Bathukamma saree this time around. Dabi and Jacquard systems were also introduced. They requested the Minister to enhance the price of a metre cloth to Rs 1.50. They would get respite if the subsidy on yarn was enhanced. Positively responding to their requests, Rama Rao tried to solve their problems and instructed officials to send cloth produced in Sircilla to private industries for quality checking instead of delaying and completing the processes early.
The Minister wanted the owners of the cotton industry to come forward to introduce modern cotton looms developed by a Bengaluru-based company. Advising looms owners to solve problems in the textile park, Rama Rao informed them to supply power through the solar system.
Minister @KTRTRS laid foundation stone for Gokaldas Images Apparel Factory at Sircilla Apparel Park. Gokaldas Images Managing Director Sumir Hinduja, Handlooms & Textiles Director Shailaja Ramaiyer, and @tsiic_vcmd Narasimha Reddy were also present. pic.twitter.com/qyxrLK7tct
— Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD, Telangana (@MinisterKTR) July 30, 2021
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