Weaver suicides continue in Telangana
Another weaver ends life, Mudigonda Naresh, 53, was found hanging early on Tuesday in his residence in Thangallapalli of Sircilla, marking the third such death in a month.
Rajanna-Sircilla: The spree of weavers dying by suicide in the State is continuing, with one more weaver found hanging in Thangallapalli of Sircilla on Tuesday. This was the third such death this month, with the total number of weavers ending their lives by suicide since January reaching at least 12.
Mudigonda Naresh, 53, was found hanging early on Tuesday in his residence in Indiramma Colony, not far from the Sircilla Textile park at Thangallapalli. Naresh is said to have resorted to the extreme step due to financial distress, since he was out of work for the last six months. He is survived by his wife and aging parents, with his mother suffering from serious health issues.
It is not just lack of work that is causing despair among Sircilla’s weavers. Apart from the State government discontinuing several of the previous BRS government’s initiatives that had propped up the weaving sector, another fatal blow to the sector was the current Congress government’s decision on May 20 to impose restrictions on the 50 per cent subsidy to powerlooms, which was in place for over a decade. Under Category-IV, each unit of power was charged Rs.4. Of this, the weaver had to pay only Rs.2 and the remaining amount was paid by the government. According to the government order issued in 2001, the subsidy was applicable only for 10 powerlooms per unit (each unit has 60-70 looms) (up to 10 HP). However, this restriction of 10 powerlooms was not implemented by the previous government in the wake of suicides among the weaving community in Sircilla.
The Congress government, however, in its May 20 order, asked officials to implement the 10 HP limit rule without fail, after which Cooperative Electric Supply Society (CESS) officials are now collecting full power bills of Rs.7.80 per unit from weaving units that have more than 10 powerlooms.
Owner of a weaving unit, Nalla Pradeep said the survival of the Sircilla textile industry was possible only with the power subsidy. It was not feasible to weave cloth on looms by paying 100 per cent power bills. The charges of all workers depending on the weaving industry were hiked after the sector began getting the Bathukamma saree orders from the previous government. With the order being stopped by the Congress and the strict implementation of the power subsidy restrictions, the sector was pushed into further despair, he said.
Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Association (MACS) general secretary Polu Shankar said weavers were literally being forced to end their lives because of lack of work. Master weavers were not running looms due to lack of government orders such as Bathukamma sarees and others. The blow in the form of the subsidy restriction was also one reason for master weavers not to run all looms. Though a few looms were being operated, all weavers were not getting work. Besides this, debts on account of healthcare and other expenses were forcing weavers to think of extreme steps, Shankar said.
If the government was sincerely planning to stop the suicides, it should immediately revive the power subsidy and start placing all the government orders that used to be given to the weavers, he added.
