‘Weavers need government help’

Issues to the fore at ‘Mana Palana Mee Soochana’

Weavers need the State government’s hand-holding on a big scale as at present only one in three traditional weavers get ₹24,000 as initial capital to start their profession afresh, Dharmavaram ward welfare and development secretary Farzana observed while speaking to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at the ‘Mana Palana Mee Soochana’ programme at Amaravati on Monday.

While praising the YSR Congress Party chief for understanding the difficulties of the weavers during his padayatra and sanctioning financial assistance to the weavers, who were either committing suicide or migrating to other regions for want of work in the aftermath of powerlooms being used widely in Anantapur district, Ms. Farzana said at least 250 families in Dharmavaram had come back to their roots.

“I was a fresh graduate when you were on the padayatra, and never expected to get the government job, but today I feel empowered working for my own people in my town in safe environment,” she said while hesitating to bring to the notice of the Chief Minister the problems of weavers. Unlike during video conferences, where beneficiaries laud Chief Minister’s welfare programmes and hardly point out the problems, Ms. Farzana showed courage to speak her mind at Amaravati.

The others who represented Anantapur district at the programme, were an NGO, Rural Development Trust, programme director Moncho Ferrer and AF Ecology Centre director and Andhra Pradesh State Agriculture Mission (APSAM) member Y. Malla Reddy.

Initiative lauded

Mr. Moncho reminded the Chief Minister of the RDT founder Vincent Ferrer starting a ‘Grama Swarajya Nidhi’ as a pilot project 20 years ago in 1,000 villages of Anantapur district, which was a runaway success and today the interest earned on the common fund of the villages is being utilised not only within the village, but also in the neightbouring villages. “Your initiative of starting a volunteer system and village and ward secretariats, was bound to be more effective with the government financial support,” he observed while appreciating the services rendered by the volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Malla Reddy said accountability among the government functionaries had improved after the introduction of village secretariat system.

The Chief Minister wanted the corruption rooted out at all levels so that the desired Grama Swaraj becomes a reality.