A protest in Jagatial. Express A protest in Jagatial. Express

The Telangana government spent Rs 222 crore to purchase 1.04 crore sarees as festival gifts for poor women, but the women made bonfires of them at several places, claiming that they were of inferior quality. State Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said the protests were the handiwork of Congress workers who want to defame the government.

The Telangana government Monday started distributing polyster sarees among women below poverty line as a gift for the Bhatukamma festival, which starts on Tuesday. Officials said the sarees are being distributed through special counters, PDS outlets and designated government buildings in villages. On Monday, 26 lakh sarees were distributed at 8000 centres. The sarees will be distributed among more than one crore women, irrespective of their religion, across the 31 districts of the state.

However, women in many villages threw away the sarees, claiming that they were of inferior quality. “These sarees are not even worth Rs 100. Are we supposed to wear these for a festival? Where is dignity in this? This is an insult to women in the name of gifting sarees,’’ said G Anjamma from Bhuvanagiri.

Protests took place in Jagatial, Yadadri, Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Mahbubagar, among other places. Directing their ire at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the women demanded handloom sarees instead of the polyster, powerloom-made sarees they had been gifted. Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said the Congress had instigated some women to protest and accused the opposition party of playing politics over a festival gift. “Most women have accepted the gift with dignity. Apart from some political workers who protested at a few places, everyone is happy,’’ he said.

Rao said it was the Chief Minister’s idea to gift sarees to poor women on Bhatukamma. “It has twin objectives: it will bring happiness to women from poor and BPL families. Secondly, weavers in Telangana, who are in distress due to lack of work and are committing suicide, got a lot of business as more than 50 per cent of the sarees worth over Rs 100 crore were purchased from them. The Telangana government has spent Rs 222 crore to purchase these sarees,’’ the Industries Minister said.

Telangana Handlooms Commissioner Shailaja Ramaiyer said, “The Bhatukamma gift is a 100 per cent polyester saree produced in powerlooms. This year, we were able to procure 50 per cent of the total requirement of 1.04 crore sarees from Telangana weavers. The remaining were procured from Surat.”

She said that the government initially wanted to procure the entire stock from Telangana weavers, but this could not be done due to shortage of time. “This year we purchased 52 lakh sarees from Telangana weavers. From next year, we will purchase the entire stock from them. A workforce of 40,000-50,000 will benefit from such a huge order from the government,” Ramaiyer said.

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