Telangana Industries and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao sought Central government support for the Textile and Handloom Sector in the state.
In a letter written to the Union Minister of Textiles Mr Piyush Goyal on the steps to be taken by the central government to help the textile sector, despite several please, nothing came forthwith from the Centre to mitigate the plight of weavers.
“The Center has not done anything for the textile and handloom sector in Telangana,” he said.
Accusing the Centre of not extending any financial help to the textile industry, the minister said that Mr Modi’s government disdained the textile sector, which provides employment to the largest number of people in the country after agriculture and it is very unfortunate.
BJP-led Central Government has not provided any additional financial assistance to the state’s textile and handloom workers. Instead of giving false statements about the Centre’s help to Telangana Textile and Handloom sector, the Prime Minister and the other Central Ministers should sincerely try to extend their help to the weavers of the state.
Minister Mr KTR said the textile sector is in the doldrums in the country only due to the lopsided policies of the BJP-led Union government. In his letter, KTR has included the details regarding the support that the state is seeking from the central government for the upliftment of the textile and handloom sector.
The TRS government has always given utmost importance to the welfare of the weaving community in the state and took many proactive measures to strengthen the sector since it came to power in 2014. However, the Central government’s apathy towards the textile and handloom sector is weakening it. The BJP government has imposed GST on handloom products, KTR remarked.
Following are the demands put forth by Minister KTR in his letter to the Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal: reduce GST on textiles; remove all taxes including GST on handloom; provide funds for Kakatiya Mega Textile Park; establish Handloom Export Promotion Council and National Textile Research Institute in Hyderabad; set up Institute of Handloom Technology; provide funds for the upgradation of power looms; establish 15 block-level handloom clusters and set up a mega power loom cluster in Sircilla.