The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Nitrite is ‘cyanide' for weavers

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Monday, Jun 28, 2010
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Nitrite is ‘cyanide' for weavers

R. Avadhani

SANGAREDDY: Though every one has been talking a lot on the problem of weavers in Dubbak of Medak district, none has made any serious attempt to identify them.

A team of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) toured the area in May and conducted a study on the problems. The report was released recently.

“You may have heard of cyanide capsules that the LTTE guerrillas carry. This is our cyanide capsule,” K. Lakshminarayana told the visiting SJP team showing the white powder in a plastic pouch.

“Just wash down a spoonful of this powder……Death comes quickly and silently. Just 10 grams is what it takes to make a family go to eternal sleep,” Lakshminarayana said nonchalantly. That powder is what the handloom weavers call nitrite, a must-use chemical for dying the yarn.

125 deaths

Dubbak has witnessed over 125 handloom weaver deaths caused either by starvation or by suicide. There were over 10,000 looms in Dubbak, neighbouring Lacchapet, Ramakkapet, Habsipur, Chittapur, Dharmajipet, Mote, Challapur, Dumpanapalli and several other villages.

Traders from as far as Orissa used to descend in flocks to Dubbak to place orders and give advances.

Market vagaries, shifting choices of fickle customers and above all, lopsided policies and priorities of the powers that be have reduced Dubbak to a poor shadow of its former self. With the Janata Sarees and Janata Dhoti scheme dying a natural death, fund flows dried up for the weavers.

Yarn prices

The prices of the yarn, the chief raw material, are sky-rocketing. Weaving activity calls for the involvement of every member of the weaver's family. At least seven members have to work at pre-loom and post-loom levels and the wages are unimaginably low.

NREGS lucrative

Most weavers now find NREGS more lucrative, the report stated.

The report also found fault with weavers for not upgrading their technology and changing according to market needs.

“A Rs. 10 crore package is required to protect the handloom industry at Dubbak,” points out SJM state secretary Appala Prasad.

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