Excise Min hard-sells welfare measures to weavers

Minister for BC Welfare, Handlooms and Excise, Kollu Ravindra, inaugurated the Handloom Exhibition at the Teachers’ Guild Home in Machilipatnam on Sunday. He welcomed the initiative of the handlooms and textile ministry for organising the exhibition. He said that the government was committed to help the weavers and protect their interests.

“The government is trying to waive your loans, along with the loans of farmers and self-help group women,” he said.

Ravindra added that loans of individual weavers and their groups were estimated to be around Rs 168 crore and that would be waived in phased manner. He advised the weavers to develop new models and designs and get international marketing. Ravindra felt the need to train master weavers on new models and designs. Referring to the handlooms stocks available in the market, the minister said that the government would soon announce discount on the stocks to sell them in the market.

Local ZPTC member L Narayana Prasad, MPP Kagita Venkateswara Rao, handlooms and textiles regional deputy director M Nagalakshmi, revenue divisional officer P Sai Babu, handlooms assistant director Ch Lakshmana Rao, APCO director M Narasimha Rao, Krishna district co-operative central bank director Madhusudhana Rao and others were present.