The Government of India has set a target of modernizing 2.3 million powerlooms in the next few years, Textiles Minister K Sambasiva Rao said after inaugurating a powerloom modernization project at Sircilla in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.
During his visit, the Minister inaugurated a Rs. 900 million pilot-project for upgradation of regular powerlooms.
The Minister assured weavers of proper implementation of government- backed health insurance scheme and also promised to push for waiver of their loans.
He urged them to upgrade their powerlooms with modern attachments in order to produce value-added fabric that can compete in the global market.
The Minister announced sanctioning of a powerloom training centre in Sircilla, which would impart training to weavers in powerloom designs, warping, sizing, dyeing and other skills, according to a report in The Hindu.
The Minister also promised that a mega dyeing unit would soon be sanctioned for Sircilla for the benefit of weavers, once the district administration allocates land for the project.
The Pilot Scheme of In-Situ Upgradation of plain Powerlooms was implemented on a pilot basis in six clusters across the country by the Government of India, of which Sircilla is one of the clusters.
The town of Sircilla has about 30,000 plain powerlooms that require modernization, but no incentives were extended to the weavers so far.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=157662