The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : State to bail out handloom weavers

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Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

State to bail out handloom weavers

Special Correspondent

‘ Pavala vaddi’ scheme for 700-odd co-op societies

HYDERABAD: The government has decided to extend loans facility at 3 per cent or ‘Pavala vaddi’ as it is popularly known, to handloom weavers of primary cooperative societies coming under Andhra Pradesh Cooperative Society.

This means 700-odd cooperative societies will need to pay only 3 per cent out of the 11 per cent interest normally charged by commercial banks and other financial institutions on the loans taken by them. The remaining 8 per cent will be paid by the government.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said, the extension of the scheme to weavers would place an additional burden of Rs. 10 crore on the exchequer annually. Answering a question, he ruled out the possibility of making the scheme applicable to the weavers outside the cooperative fold, saying “this category of weavers are already self-sufficient”.

Health insurance

Dr Reddy said the government had also decided to bring all handloom weavers under the health insurance scheme by subsidising 90 per cent of the contribution payable by them towards the premium. Instead of Rs. 781, the weaver would have to pay only Rs. 50 a year. The government would pay the balance of Rs. 731 annually.

The Chief Minister also announced sanction of 10 per cent subsidy on all purchases of yarn, dyes and chemicals to the handloom weavers. The subsidy would be released directly to the National Handloom Development Corporation on all these purchases. He said another 27 handloom clusters would be set up in the State on the lines of the one established at Madhavaram at Chirala in Guntur districts.

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