Naidu demands relief package for weavers

Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu said that the party will fight until the farmers, who suffered crop losses during the recent drought, were given proper compensation.

Addressing farmers' gathering during his padayatra at Dubba Thanda in Nalgonda district as part of the Rythyu Porubata, Naidu demanded that the government conduct a field level study and provide compensation to the farmers, who suffered crop loss due to power cuts and shortage of rainfall during the current kharif season.

The TDP chief said that he would continue his struggle along with the farmers to get remunerative prices for their produces. He said that the government should provide a compensation of Rs 25,000 per cotton bale and Rs10,000 per acre for crop losses. He called upon the farmers’ community to wage a battle till the government concede their genuine demands.

Naidu demanded that the state government waive all arrears of handloom weavers and protect them from committing suicides in the state. In a letter to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, the TDP president said the government had failed to fulfil its commitments made in the state assembly in supply of yarn, dyes and silk to the handloom weavers and provision of subsidies on cotton and silk yarn to them.

Slamming the government for showing indifferent attitude towards the handloom weavers requirements, Naidu said the government had totally failed in successfully implementing the Rs 312 crore loan waiver schemes. He said the handloom wage earner was getting only Rs 80 per day and was denied even the minimum wages leading to suicides by many handloom weavers.

Even the purchase of handlooms for school uniforms has been reduced to 25 per cent from the existing 50 percent by the APCO, Naidu pointed out.