KTR writes postcard to PM Modi demanding withdrawal of GST on handloom products

He said he had not received any response from the Centre despite bringing weavers’ problems to its notice several times.

Rama Rao, who is also the working president of the TRS, alleged that the Centre, instead of coming to the rescue of weavers, had over a period of time wound up all the welfare schemes meant for them.

తెలంగాణలో చేనేత కార్మికులకు ముడి సరుకుపై 40% సబ్సిడీ ఇస్తుంటే, మోదీ మాత్రం 5% జీఎస్టీ విధించారు. 5% జీఎస్టీ రద్దు చేయాల్సిందే. ప్రతి ఒక్కరూ పోస్టుకార్డు రాసి ప్రధానికి తమ నిరసన తెలియజేయాలి. సభా వేదికపై నుంచి నేనే తొలి కార్డు రాస్తున్న. అందరూ ఈ ఉద్యమంలో పాల్గొనాలి – మంత్రి @KTRTRS pic.twitter.com/OwUhWcgZ9H

— BRS Party (@BRSparty) October 22, 2022

On top of this, the Centre has now imposed GST, he said, claiming that Modi would go down in history as the first prime minister to levy such charges on handloom products.

The minister urged the prime minister to waive the GST as the handloom sector was second only to agriculture in giving maximum employment.

This apart, handloom weavers perpetuate and hand down India’s rich cultural heritage to successive generations, he said.

KTR has already been interacting with weavers in the run-up to the by-election in Munugode.

Earlier this week, he appealed to the weavers’ community in the Assembly constituency to teach the saffron party a lesson in the upcoming bypoll.

The move came a day after prominent Backward Class (BC) leader Boora Narsaiah Goud — having left the TRS on 14 October — joined the BJP.

During that interaction with the weavers of Munugode, he said that the BJP had dissolved the All India Handlooms Board, All India Handicrafts Board, and savings schemes and insurance schemes for weavers.

Also, the yarn subsidy to weavers had been reduced from 40 percent to 15 percent, he said.