Nearly 5,000 handloom weavers who lost their looms face mounting debts
G Arun Kumar | TNN
Rajoli (Mahbubnagar): For the 5,000-odd weavers of this town, the last straw came in the form of nature’s fury like they have never seen before. In a matter of a few hours on that fateful October 2, the gushing waters destroyed their handlooms and homes and increased their debts many-fold.
“I cannot take this anymore, I want to die,” wailed 60-year-old Vanka Lakshmanna, whose three handlooms were washed away in the floods. This more or less sums up the morbidity that the floods left behind in the weavers of this mudstone house town just off the Raichur main road on the banks of the Tungabhadra river in Vaddapally mandal of district.
With their livelihood destroyed and forced to live on the streets, the weavers see no light at the end of the tunnel. Agnoor Babu had 8 Turling looms (where silk saris are woven) and two regular ones. All of them were destroyed or washed away in the gushing waters of the flood fury. “I have five daughters, the eldest of whom I got married six months ago. I have already incurred a debt of Rs 40,000. With no way to earn money, how am I going to feed me family, let alone marry off my other four daughters,” cried Agnoor Babu even as his family members tried to console him.
Savitramma, an old weaver woman, is still to come to grips with the reality post-floods. In a state of shell-shock, all she can do is stand next to her wrecked home and lament. “The atmosphere is so hellish that there is not a single family that has the courage to fight on. What can the state government do to give us back our lives,” asked weaver Bandi Krishna, who lost all of his four handlooms.
Even before the floods washed away their livelihoods, most of the weavers were in the debt range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. “For you city folks, it might sound like a very small sum. But not for us. On an exceptionally good day, we tend to make Rs 100 a day and there are at least 4-5 mouths that each of us have to feed,” said Mohd Shabbir, a 17-year-old weaver who looked much withered for his age.
Since the floods, the weavers as well as the other residents of Rajoli have been having a tough time getting food and drinking water. On Tuesday, many of the residents were seen converging at a huge neem tree at the town centre which got submerged in the hope of fishing out some debris to build temporary shelters. “The old and the sick are not able to take it. Many of them are suffering from diarrhoea,” said Hanumanthu, a rescue worker.
Understandably, Rajoli’s deputy sarpanch Marlavedi Sekhar is a worried man. “The floods have washed away our lives, broken many families and decimated our meagre earnings. But the real tragedy that could unfold over the next few weeks is suicides by the weavers. I hope for once, the district administration takes preventive steps rather than pay compensation afterwards,” he said.
![getimage[1]](http://carped.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/getimage1.jpg?w=460&h=366 "getimage[1]")
- LOST LIVES : Weavers in rajoli have lost their homes and looms to the floods
source : Times of India 14 Oct 2009
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