'Withdraw FSA charges against power looms'

Sircilla: Protesting against the collection of Fuel Surcharge Adjustment (FSA) from consumers, the power loom weavers and workers organised a 'Vanta-Varpu' programme here in Karimnagar district on Saturday. Workers and power loom owners in large numbers gathered at the RDO office and started preparing food on the road as part of their protest programme. It may be noted that the power loom owners have been agitating in Sircilla town for the past two weeks demanding the immediate withdrawal of collecting the FSA charges from them. Addressing the gathering here, Samala Mallesh, a labour union leader, said that the power loom owners were already reeling under the impact of the hike in raw material prices and unscheduled power cuts and the fresh decision of collecting FSA would be additional burden on the weaver community. Majority of the power loom owners closed their units in Sircilla town and took part in the protest.

Power loom owners urged to call off stir Sircilla: Lok Sabha member from Karimnagar Ponnam Prabhakar appealed to power loom owners to call off their ongoing agitation and start production of cloth by reopening their units. Speaking to the media here on Saturday, Ponnam Prabhakar said he would bring the matter to the notice of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Minister D Sridhar Babu, who hails from Karimnagar district, and would try to persuade them for withdrawing the decision of collecting FSA charges. He also found fault with the remarks of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who allegedly said that the funds would not be sanctioned to Telangana region from now onwards, and demanded the Chief Minister to withdraw his remarks immediately. "I will also request the party high command to take a disqualification action against 9 Congress MLAs who voted in fevour of no-confidence motion in the State Assembly on Friday," Ponnam said.