Agriculture and Handlooms & Textiles Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao at a stall in the handloom expo opened at People’s Plaza on the occasion of National Handlooms Day in Hyderabad on Friday.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
HYDERABAD
The State Government is working towards a common goal of improving the lives of farmers and weavers with a plethora of welfare and development initiatives, Agriculture and Handlooms & Textiles Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said.
Speaking at a programme organised on the occasion of National Handlooms Day on Friday, he said handloom weaving was only a livelihood activity but was a reflection of Indian tradition, culture and heritage. It was everyone’s responsibility to protect the craft that was being passed on from generation to generation for ages and on the wane now.
He stated that the State Government was committed to protect, revive and rejuvenate the craft with all necessary measures.
He inaugurated a handloom exhibition with over 100 stalls organised on the occasion and felicitated the handloom craftsmen selected for the Konda Laxman Bapuji Handloom awards. The expo would continue till August 16.
Stating that the handloom products of Telangana have a reputation across the globe, Mr. Nageswara Rao said sarees of Gadwal and Pochampally, fabrics from Narayanpet, Gollabhama sarees of Siddipet, durries of Warangal, and bedsheets of Karimnagar, have recognition in different parts of the world.
The minister noted that Telangana was ahead of other States in geo-tagging the handloom weavers and said the government was making efforts to ready new generation to carry on the craftsmanship with the help of technology by extending training to the youth in the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT).
Vaggu Sriram, who was trained at IIHT, had designed an ergonomic back-support system that had won him an award at the national level. The State Government was implementing ₹5 lakh insurance cover to weavers’ families, released ₹49.27 crore for writing off handloom loans and another ₹15 crore for Nethanna Bharosa scheme, ₹304 crore to under Nethannaku Cheyutha and another ₹44 crore to powerloom workers.
The yarn depot set up at Vemulawada had supplied 3,096 tonnes of yarn to the weavers so far, the minister explained and added that ₹500 crore pending dues of the previous government were also released.
KTR letter to CM
Meanwhile, in a letter addressed to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao alleged that several welfare schemes introduced for weavers by the previous government were stopped by the present government and no promise made to the weavers was fulfilled so far.
Published – August 07, 2026 08:29 pm IST
