Modi Govt proving to be detrimental for handloom and textiles industry: KTR

Hyderabad: Handlooms and Textiles Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government for hampering efforts of the Telangana government to empower weavers, by imposing a five per cent GST on handloom products. Welcoming former MP and BJP senior leader, Rapolu Anand Bhaskar, into the party fold at Telangana […]

Hyderabad: Handlooms and Textiles Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government for hampering efforts of the Telangana government to empower weavers, by imposing a five per cent GST on handloom products.

Welcoming former MP and BJP senior leader, Rapolu Anand Bhaskar, into the party fold at Telangana Bhavan here on Wednesday, Rama Rao said the handlooms and textiles sector was the second largest employer in the country after the agriculture sector.

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“But the Modi government has no policy for encouraging the sector except for slogans like ‘Farm to Fabric’ and ‘Farm to Fashion’. As a result, smaller countries like Bangladesh are far ahead of India in terms of textiles production,” he said.

The Minister reminded that the State government was implementing numerous schemes including supply of yarn and other raw materials at 40 per cent subsidy, thrift and insurance schemes, apart from providing necessary financial support in times of need. The State government was also setting up the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal, apart from other initiatives. He said despite repeated requests from Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, there was no support from the Centre.

“Instead of supporting our endeavours, the BJP government is creating hurdles. The union government is neither extending any support for the Kakatiya Mega Texile Park citing lack of any provisions nor is willing to sanction a mega powerloom cluster. Instead, the Centre has cancelled eight schemes including supply of subsidised raw materials, closing of All India Handloom Board and All India Handicrafts Board among others,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Rapolu Anand Bhaskar said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had turned agriculture into a remunerative profession for farmers by taking up irrigation projects in an unprecedented manner. He said the Chief Minister had developed Telangana into a progressive State and would become a formidable alternative force to the BJP in the national politics as well.