Government orders on TSCO procurement go unheeded

Despite government orders directing departments to procure cloth from TSCO, most failed to comply. Only four departments placed orders for 2026-27. Handlooms officials expressed concern as dues mounted and regular orders linked to KCR Kits stopped.

Hyderabad: Here is another classic example of lack of coordination among departments and scant regard to government orders.

Despite the State Government issuing orders last year directing all departments to procure required cloth from the Telangana State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society Limited (TSCO), they hardly followed these orders.

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The State government issued GOMs 1 on March 11 last year. All government departments and corporations, undertakings and government hospitals were directed to procure cloth from TSCO to promote and provide livelihood security to weavers. Irked over many departments failing to follow these orders, Handlooms department officials directed the government departments to place their textile orders for the next financial year with TSCO within a week.

These orders should be placed with a payment of 50 percent in advance, facilitating TSCO to commence production and supply the orders accordingly, Principal Secretary Handlooms and Textiles Shailaja Ramaiyer said at a review meeting with officials on Monday. She also wanted the Rs 300 crore dues to be paid by different departments immediately. Interestingly, despite the government’s strict instructions, orders were received from only four departments for the 2026-27 financial year.

The Government Order was issued after the Congress government stopped the distribution of sarees as part of KCR Kits.

Apart from 14 items, including towels and napkins, soaps, baby oil, baby mattress and sarees were offered to the mothers in the kits. Since its launch in 2017, nearly 15 lakh KCR kits were distributed till November 2023 in the State.

Through the KCR kit scheme, not just women, even weavers got benefited as they were assured regular orders for sarees. In each kit, sarees were also offered to the women, but for the last two years these orders have been stopped, a senior official from TSCO said. TSCO gets the majority of its orders from the Education department. Though the health department requirements like bed linen, pillow covers, bed sheets and others were more, save for ASHA workers saree orders, which works out to Rs 1 crore worth, no other orders were being placed with TSCO, the official added.