Crisis-ridden Gulbarga handloom weavers meander to Maharashtra

Aland, Karnataka, Dec 17 (UNI) Mushrooming powerlooms and lack of raw materials are driving hundreds of skilled handloom weavers in Gulbarga district of Karnataka to Maharashtra to earn a livelihood.

It is feared that over 8,000 weavers from 6,000 families in various towns of Gulbarga have migrated to the neighbouring State, looking for better opportunities.

A number of houses in the weavers colonies in Aland and a few other places wore a deserted look as the families have shifted to places such as Mumbai, Pune, Solapur, Bhiwandi and Ichalkranji in Maharashtra, Handloom Weavers Association President Chandrasekhar Hiremath told UNI here.

Gulbarga once had the distinction of having a substantial number of handloom units run by skilled weavers, with towns such as Aland, Shahapur, Hirolli, Kannahalli, Himpur, Nimbal and Gurmitkal being the main centres.

The present pathetic state of weavers in the region was attributed to the ''indifferent'' attitude of the Karnataka State Handloom Development Corporation (KSHDC) in supplying yarn, the main raw material, to the weavers.

While a weaver required a minimum of two reams of yarn per month, with which he earned about Rs 3,000, the KSHDC unfortunately supplied only one ream of yarn. This was insufficient to run a weaving unit, according to a weaver.

Following the non-availability of yarn, a 50-year-old cooperative handloom unit at Hirolli in the district, which used to weave about 1,500 sarees per day, was closed, rendering hundreds jobless.

Mr Hiremath said there was a substantial demand for handloom clothes and the KSHDC was the main purchaser in the State. ''Despite the good market potential, the KSHDC is not supplying yarn sufficiently,'' he alleged.

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