Lockdown brings down work, earnings for handloom weavers in Coimbatore
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For a number of handloom weavers in Coimbatore district, the lockdown that got here into drive final month to regulate the unfold of the pandemic has resulted in both much less work or much less pay.
For occasion, 64-year-old Varadaraj at Alakombu close to Sirumugai used to weave 4 sarees per week and earn ₹ 1600 a saree. Now, he weaves two sarees per week and the funds will not be common, he says. “Even if we get ₹ 100 or less, we take it because we need the money,” he says.
For the handloom weavers in Sirumugai space, uncooked silk comes from Karnataka and the sarees woven are despatched to Bengaluru for gross sales. With lockdown in Karnataka too, there is no such thing as a motion of silk yarn or the sarees. The months of May and June are peak seasons due to weddings. Last 12 months and this 12 months, gross sales throughout these months have been fully affected, he says.
Manoharan, a grasp weaver close to Negamam who sells to personal merchants, says the weavers got jobs for about two weeks after the lockdown. After that, the grasp weavers didn’t have uncooked materials. “Most of the weavers are idle now. They have no work. We do not have raw material and with no sales, we are unable to pay the weavers too,” he says.
“Weavers in Coimbatore district may have stocks worth ₹ 50 crore. They are the worst hit because of the lockdown. The government should pay ₹ 5000 compensation to each handloom weaver,” he mentioned.
In the case of Sirumugai, a lot of the merchandise are offered to Cooptex. An official at Co-optex mentioned the weavers got the manufacturing plan for 2021-2022 and manufacturing is occurring. However, since most of its stores in Coimbatore, Tiruppur, and Erode districts stay shut due to the lockdown, there is no such thing as a gross sales now.
An official in the Handloom Department right here mentioned that about 60 weaving societies in the district, with 30,000 handloom weavers, have been given work to the weavers through the lockdown too. There is not any drop in work, however there are not any gross sales. So, there are shares. However, gross sales will choose up instantly after the lockdown. “This year, we were better prepared for the lockdown based on last year’s experience. Hence, we planned ahead to ensure weavers continue to get work,” the official mentioned.
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