Handloom weavers stage protest.

In support of demands: Members of Gulbarga District Handloom Weavers Agitation Committee taking out a rally in Gulbarga on Monday.

Gulbarga: Members of the Gulbarga District Handloom Weavers Agitation Committee organised a rally demanding better government benefits in Gulbarga on Monday.

Weavers in over a 100 villages were suffering due to the "wrong policies" of the Government. They had no resources to buy raw material and no market to sell their goods, the protestors said.

If the Government did not come to their rescue, they would organise a State-wide agitation, they threatened.

There were a large number of weavers in Mandan Hipparga, Chinchansur, Nimbal and other villages in Aland taluk, Rangampet, Gogi, Gurumitkal, and other villages in Shahapur taluk, Bhairamadagi and other villages in Afzalpur taluk.

But they were migrating to Maharashtra in search of jobs.

Demands

The Government should start a beam sizing centre in Gulbarga, set up separate colonies for weavers with all facilities in villages where there were at least 30 such families, issue Antyodaya Anna cards to all weaver families, provide finances to weavers to procure raw material, provide pension benefits to all weavers over the age of 60, and fill all vacancies in the Textile department and the Handloom Development Corporation in Gulbarga, they demanded.

They took out a procession from Kannada Bhavan to Mini Vidhana Soudha. They submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Chandrashekar Hiremath and others led the rally.
Courtesy The Hindu