Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has announced a new initiative to support handloom products in the State. The government will distribute two sarees each to 63 lakh Self Help Group members every year. He instructed officials to design good quality sarees for this purpose.
To meet this demand, the government plans to order the production of 1.3 crore sarees from weavers annually. Reddy shared this information while inaugurating the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) on Monday.
In addition to this, the Chief Minister mentioned that Rs 290 crore of arrears owed to weavers had already been paid. He also announced that loans worth Rs 30 crore taken by weavers would be waived.
The government has decided to name the newly established IIHT after freedom fighter and Telangana leader Konda Laxman Bapuji. Officials were instructed to issue orders to formalize this decision. Additionally, the Chief Minister asked the officials to prepare a plan for holding elections to cooperative societies (Samakhya Sanghalu).
Reddy further explained that in the past, students from Telangana had to travel to Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to study at the IIHT. He had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Piyush Goyal to establish an IIHT in Telangana, and the Centre agreed.
The Chief Minister also highlighted that the State had already launched a Skill University to provide skill training for students. He promised that steps would be taken to set up the IIHT campus within the Skill University by next year.
