Handloom Day: CM Naidu to Launch 3 Schemes Today

 Vijayawada: Fulfilling the promises he had made during the election season, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu would launch on Thursday a Rs 5 crore Thrift Fund for handloom workers alongside implementation of free electricity for handlooms and power looms.

Marking the national handloom day, the state would also be granting a 5 per cent GST exemption to weavers.

Naidu would visit Mangalagiri in Guntur district on Thursday and participate in the 11th handloom day function there. He would go to a weavers' workshop, which had been set up with help from education minister Nara Lokesh in Mangalagiri. The CM would inspect the looms and handloom fabrics there.

The chief minister would interact with the handloom artisans in the weavers' workshop on the ways for marketing handloom products. Later, he would inspect the stalls selling handloom products.

Naidu would also address a public meeting.

Notably, after agriculture, a large number of the people in the AP depend on the handloom sector for their livelihood. Some 2.50 lakh people make their living from the manufacture of handloom textiles. There are 986 handloom cooperative societies employing weavers. The handloom sector in the state has a turnover of  Rs 1,374 crore.

The state government is spending Rs 190 crore per year on supply of free electricity for weavers. It has been decided to pay Rs 15 crore per year to weavers towards GST exemption. With the free electricity scheme, weavers who weave on looms will get a benefit of Rs 1,233 per month, or Rs 14,956 per year.

Those who depend on spinning looms would get a benefit of  Rs 2,717 per month, or Rs 32,604 per annum. Plans are on to implement a health insurance scheme for handloom families, officials said.