Want orders to make school uniforms again from Tamil Nadu govt, say most weavers

COIMBATORE: With powerloom units under crisis due to prevailing uncertainty in work, the weavers have appealed to the State government to implement its poll promise on the production of school uniforms.

Powerloom weavers have been making persistent demands to resume orders for school uniforms to revive their fortune.

“It has been our long-time demand to change the checked shirting cloth for uniforms into a striped model. By doing so, the powerloom units could also produce shirting fabric. It would generate work for weavers for six months. Before 2014, when school uniform shirts were in striped design; they used to be produced in power looms. It was then the shirt design was changed into checked style, which however could not be produced in power looms,” said R Velusamy, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Powerloom Association.

Usually, the power looms run for five months in a year because of the government orders to produce sarees and dhotis. But during other months of the year, uncertainty looms large over their work.

“We are hoping desperately for the DMK to implement its poll promise of placing orders for producing an entire stock of school uniforms through power looms,” said Mohanasundaram, a weaver.

Over 3.5 crore metres of shirting cloth for uniforms are now made in autolooms. And, of the over 1.5 crore metres of fabric used in trousers, nearly around one crore metres are made in power looms, while the remaining are churned out in handloom and pedal looms.

Among other list of demands, the powerloom units also seek better dyeing facilities as currently the fabric is sent to the north to die and it adds up to the cost burden.

“Because of pollution issues, dyeing could not be done in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, measures should be taken to develop better Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) facilities as the existing ones do not meet the requirements. The government should also implement its long-standing proposal of a marine discharge scheme to take the treated water through pipelines to be discharged into the sea. It was a scheme proposed by former chief minister M Karunanidhi,” said B Kandavel, joint co-ordinator of Tamil Nadu Federation of Powerloom Association.

KEY POINTS

60 % of sarees will only be produced before the Pongal festival due to a delay in the supply of yarn

90 % of dhotis are likely to be produced before Pongal due to the same shortage

1.44 crore sarees and dhotis are normally produced in over 40,000 powerloom units in Erode and Namakkal

1 lakh people are directly employed in the powerloom sector and another 1 lakh indirectly

1 crore metres and more of trouser fabric for uniforms are produced in powerlooms.

· Powerlooms seek change in checked shirting fabric into striped models for school uniforms

· Weavers demand CETP facilities and the implementation of marine discharge systems