Telangana weavers send over lakh postcards to PM Modi for GST rollback

Hyderabad: Over one lakh postcards written by Telangana handloom weavers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding rollback of GST on handlooms were deposited at General Post Office (GPO) here on Monday.

Led by TRS Working President and Minister K T Rama Rao, thousands of weavers and handloom supporters gathered at Nizam College Grounds and proceeded to GPO as a rally holding placards of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

They also held placards with the demand to roll back the GST. They demanded the five per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handlooms products and its raw materials to be withdrawn.

The weavers wrote the post cards responding to the call given by Rama Rao, who launched the campaign on October 22 demanding the GST to be rolled back. The campaign received massive response from weavers spread across the State, sources close to the development said.

MLC L Ramana, Chinta Prabhakar-Chairman, Telangana State Handloom Development Corporation Limited, Guduri Praveen-Chairman, Telangana Powerloom and Textiles Development Corporation Limited, former Rajya Sabha MP Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu and Warangal Mayor Gundu Sudharani participated in the rally.

Addressing people, Ramana demanded that the GST be rolled back. He also requested the Union Government to restore the schemes such as Health Insurance, Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana which were scrapped.

Ramana said the chief minister took several measures such as 'Nethanna Ku Bima', 'Chenetha Mithra', 'Nethannaku Cheyutha' and loan waiver for weavers to protect the handlooms sector. PTI GDK KH KH