According to the recent statement of state industries and commerce minister of Telangana, KT Rama Rao, the Telangana government will spend Rs 10.10 crore in the scheme to free around 2,500 handloom weavers from debt.

The scheme helps to waive farmers’ loans up to Rs 1 lakh and loans taken by handloom weavers from nationalised banks and district cooperative central banks as working capital for production of handloom products from January 2014 to March 2017.

Rao said that the state government had allocated Rs 1,270 crore to the handloom and powerloom industry in the 2017-18 budget to uplift the sector neglected by earlier governments.

The sector was affected by inadequate raw material supply and marketing, stiff competition from mills, and obsolete technology.

He added that the objective behind this allocation was to safeguard the sectors providing sustainable employment, the welfare of weavers, and to provide alternate sources of livelihood to the poor unemployed.

Those who have repaid the loans will also get the benefit.