Power looms lure handloom workers

Sircilla: Life in textile town of Sircilla that was once threatened by power looms is now seeing  new resurgence. Handloom workers who faced a threat from the new technology have found their saviour in power looms.

For handloom workers the decline started in the mid-1980s and deteriorated by mid-1990s when the number of handlooms fell drastically and number of suicides due to  unemployment, debt and starvation rose.

The setting up  of a textile park ensured income to many young weavers. The 60-acre park  with 209 plots set up in 2003 on the outskirts of Sircilla,  has a training centre, business resource centre and a power substation for uninterrupted  power. This lured weavers who migrated to Bhiwandi in Maharashtra and Surat in Gujarat, to return home.