Urges weavers, patrons of handlooms to also write postcards for waiver of the levy
Urges weavers, patrons of handlooms to also write postcards for waiver of the levy
Handlooms and Textiles Minister K. T. Rama Rao has called for a postcard campaign appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for rollback of the 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handloom clothes and raw materials.
Withdrawal of the levy will reduce the financial distress experienced by poor handloom weavers, he said urging weavers to send postcards to the Prime Minister highlighting the issue. The Minister also called upon those fond of handloom products to join the campaign, his office said in a release on Saturday.
Mr. Rao accused the Centre of scrapping welfare programmes for the weavers and levying GST on handloom products and raw materials. After agriculture, the handlooms sector was the second largest to generate employment. He said the levy should be rolled back on humanitarian grounds.
The Minister said though he had taken up issues faced by the handloom weavers to the notice of the Centre several times there had been no positive response from the latter.
