Telangana: Sircilla textile park weavers plan modern air-jet looms

Weavers in Sircilla, who were facing bankruptcy and near starvation due to lack of work before the formation of the State of Telangana, have been witnessing a major revival of their fortunes

Rajanna-Sircilla: Weavers operating from the Sircilla Textile Park are dreaming big, witih plans afoot to purchase high speed air-jet looms. This, they say, will help them weave the best quality cloth and in much larger quantity as well.

Weavers in Sircilla, who were facing bankruptcy and near starvation due to lack of work before the formation of the State of Telangana, have been witnessing a major revival of their fortunes, courtesy a number of initiatives by local MLA and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao. The Rs 3,000 crore order from the State government including for Bathukamma sarees, and for different garments during Christmas, Ramzan and others, has helped them come back from the red. Besides these orders, the State also came out with various subsidies that have turned into a big blessings for the weaving community in the State.

The weavers, who have been weaving traditional polyester cloth that is used for door curtains and decorative material, have now decided to shift to complete cotton and viscose fabric, to further improve their business. It is for this purpose that they started thinking of replacing the existing Rapier looms with the modern Air-jet looms. The Sircilla Textile Park Development Committee has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for Rs 80 crore, with the Aditya Birla company coming forward with an offer to market the cloth to be weaved on air-jet looms, sources said.

Presently, the weavers are using powerlooms and Rapier looms to weave cloth. It is possible to weave 80 metre and 200 metre cloth per day with powerlooms and Rapier looms respectively. With the air-jet looms, this could go up to between 500 metres and 1,000 metres.

Since each air-jet loom costs around Rs 50 lakh to Rs 55 lakh, weavers are planning to request the State government for subsidy to purchase the looms from China and Japan.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Textile Park development committee chairman Annadas Anil said the project was yet to be finalized. They were planning to finalize it after consulting Minister KT Rama Rao. The modern and high speed air-jet looms can produce high quality cloth, which in turn means more profits for the weavers, he said.