In a novel protest, thousands of handloom weavers from Telangana on Monday sent postcards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding rollback of Goods and Service Tax (GST) on handlooms.
Thousands of postcards were deposited at the General Post Office (GPO). Weavers and handloom supporters gathered at Nizam College Grounds and marched to GPO in a rally.
The participants were carrying pictures of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and state Handlooms and Textiles Minister K. T. Rama Rao as well as placards with the demand to roll back the GST.
The wavers demanded the Centre to immediately roll back five percent GST on handlooms products and its raw materials.
The weavers wrote the post cards responding to the call given by Rama Rao who launched the campaign on October 22 demanding GST rollback. The campaign received massive response from weavers spread across the state.
Member of Legislative Council L. Ramana, Chinta Prabhakar, Chairman, Telangana State Handloom Development Corporation Ltd, Guduri Praveen, Chairman, Telangana Powerloom and Textiles Development Corporation Ltd, former Rajya Sabha MP Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu, and Warangal Mayor Gundu Sudharani participated in the programme and the rally.
Addressing people gathered at the college grounds, Ramana demanded that the GST should be rolled back. He has also demanded the union government to restore the schemes for weavers which were scrapped, including ICICI Lombard Health Scheme and Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana.
Ramana said that Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao took several measures to protect the handlooms sector. Some of them are Nethanna Ku Bima, Chenetha Mithra, Nethannaku Cheyutha and loan waiver to weavers.
(With inputs from IANS)
