Karnataka - Bangalore   

BJP demands waiver of weavers’ loans

BANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) All India Weavers’ Wing on Tuesday demanded that the Union Government should bail out weavers by waiving their loans.

A resolution to this effect was adopted at a meeting of the wing held in Bangalore on Tuesday. Briefing presspersons after the meeting, the wing’s national president Vannala Sriramalu said the total amount of loans availed by weavers from nationalised banks and central agencies stood at around Rs. 3,000 crore. Nearly 10 crore weavers would be benefited by a waiver, he said, and he also urged the State Governments to waive loans availed from State agencies.

The BJP would take up a struggle inside and outside the Parliament to bring pressure on the Centre, he said. The BJP would stage a dharna in front of Parliament some time in the second week of April, demanding loan waiver for weavers. The party would hold a national-level meeting of weavers’ representatives in Delhi in April to discuss various issues related to weavers, he said.

He pointed out that such a relief was necessary for the handloom sector, which is the biggest employment-generating sector after agriculture. Due to lack of adequate support from the Government, the handloom industry was in a crisis and the country accounted for only 2 per cent of the international handloom market.

There was huge scope for increasing this market share, he said, and suggested setting up of a wing of the Handloom Export Promotion council in all the States to further exports.

He also demanded that a 20-acre plot be earmarked in each State for exhibitions and sales of handloom products. In Karnataka, such a centre should be set up between Bangalore and Mysore, he said.

The meeting also adopted a resolution demanding that separate ministries and departments should be set up for handloom and textiles, both at the Centre and the States.BJP State Secretary Shivakumar, who is also a weaver, presided over the meeting.

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