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Two weavers committed suicide last month
Andhra Pradesh's handloom weavers face very difficult times. Unable to make a livelihood, two weavers have committed suicide and four others have died due to ‘near starvation' in the last one month in Bhoodan Pochampally in Nalgonda, 50 kilometres from the state capital Hyderabad. The town houses over 3,000 handlooms.
According to members of the weaver community in the town, APCO, the primary handloom marketing agency of the government, isn't buying from them as much as before. They also say that input costs have spiralled, and they face stiff competition from mills that duplicate the Pochampally designs. A cooperative society with over 800 members can't seem to provide employment to 100 weavers.
The situation is similar in other leading handloom centres in the state such as Chirala in Prakasam district, Pedana (in Krishna district), Yemmiganur (Kurnool) Venkatagiri (Nellore) and Dubbak (Medak).
It is believed that APCO currently holds handloom stocks of Rs 50 crore and has virtually stopped all its marketing activity.
The State Handloom Weavers Federation alleges that APCO has been allowed to die by the state government. The government's failure to pay subsidies through a discontinued rebate scheme, and interest on cash credit had resulted in APCO owing Rs 54 crore to the AP Cooperative Bank.
In turn, this has prompted cooperative sector banks to pressurise weavers to pay up their loans. The Vemulavada weavers cooperative society (in Karimnagar district) sold off a portion of its building to repay the District Cooperative Credit Bank (DCCB). One hundred and fifty houses of weavers in Pochampally, constructed with the help of DCCB loans, are under threat of seizure by bank officials.
Out of 9000 weavers' cooperative societies, 4000 have closed down and the rest are on the verge of closure due to the burden of debt.
Source: Deccan Herald, April 28, 2002
--Indian Express, April 28, 2002
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