K. Annamalai, the BJP Tamil Nadu President, blamed the ruling DMK government for slow procurement and delivery of yarn in power loom cooperative societies for making sarees and dhotis that would be distributed as part of Pongal gift hamper.
“According to him,” said the BJP leader on Thursday, August 1, 2024 “The Tamil Nadu Government during M.G. Ramachandran’s reign as Chief Minister started giving free dhotis and sarees to the people of Tamil Nadu through fair price shops as a part of its Pongal gift hamper to improve their income status. Consequently, many members of the power loom cooperatives and their dependents were beneficiaries.”
He noted that yarn is usually purchased by state authorities within first week of June and then issued for reprocessing at power loom cooperatives. “However, this has changed ever since DMK came into power. There have been times over the past three years when there has been even delays in yarn procurement till October. In addition, it took long before this item was produced up to February after being supplied by mid-October,” he spoke.
“Also this year”, he continued “the State Government delayed buying/supplying yarn to the handloom weavers so it could pocket some percentage from purchasing private firms’ sarees and dhotis”. “It means that these handlooms are idle because there are no raw materials available for knitting clothes like saris and kurtas.”
