The Hindu : Govt. delaying payment, Vanganur weavers at their wits' end

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 09, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Govt. delaying payment, Vanganur weavers at their wits' end

By Divya Ramamurthy

CHENNAI, JAN. 8. V.S. Ezhumalai travelled from Vanganur in Tiruvallur district to the Kancheepuram Collectorate six times last year, in the hope of collecting dues the Kancheepuram Cooperative Society owes him.

The cooperative's sub-centre at Vanganur owes 61-one-year-old handloom weaver Rs. 4,500 as wages.

But each time, he received just assurances from officials of the Handloom and Textiles Department that the money would be sent soon to him, said Ezhumalai.

It has been the same story for 20 other handloom weavers in the village for the past two years. The dues owed to them range from Rs. 500 to 7,500. Despite several representations to the Government, no payment has been made. Lack of funds with the society is such an acute problem that the Vanganur sub-centre remains closed for most of the month.

Says a disillusioned Ezhumalai: "My family is in debt. We have had to borrow more than Rs. 10,000 to tide over this crisis." Devayani Devarajan says she has pulled her children out of school and sent them to work, so that they can support the family.

Running out of patience, the weavers are now demanding payment by Pongal. Otherwise, they say they will hold protests outside the society headquarters at Kancheepuram and outside the office of the Directorate of Handlooms and Textile, Chennai. "We have waited uncomplainingly for two years but neither the State Government nor the cooperative societies seem concerned about our plight," says 58-year-old Valiamma. The society owes her family Rs. 6,500.

For the past two years, the handloom weavers at Vanganur have refused to take orders from the Kancheepuram society and are now doing contract work for private enterprises. But entrepreneurs also do not pay them well; nor do they receive any benefit.

The weavers say they receive only Rs. 1,350 for producing 50 sarees as against Rs. 1,500 they were getting from the cooperative societies. With increasing orders for polyester-mixed handloom sarees, their productivity has come down. As polyester thread is very fine, they are able to weave daily only two sarees, instead of three, say the weavers.

Over 50 per cent of weavers are in the fold of the cooperatives, started in the 1950s to help weavers tide over frequent crisis. There are 11, 098 societies in Tamil Nadu where a majority of the weavers are making uniforms.

According to A.K. Padmanabhan, president, Handloom Workers Federation of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, cooperative societies have been malfunctioning for some time now. In the last few years, several of them have closed down what with mounting interest on loans taken by the societies. With successive governments dissolving the elected bodies and filling them up with their own members, the system has been undermined, he says.

`Situation improving'

A technical officer in charge of the cooperative society at Vanganur admitted that the weavers had not been paid in a few years. "The society had some financial problems and was unable to withdraw money from the bank."

But the situation is changing, at least at Vanganur, he says. "We have spoken to Cooptex and asked them to release some funds. The wages due to the weavers would be paid in a few days."

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