Hyderabad: Telangana Jagruti president Kalvakuntla Kavitha accused the Revanth Reddy government of pushing handloom workers into distress by cancelling key uniform orders linked to their livelihoods.
In a statement, Kalvakuntla Kavitha said the education department, functioning under Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, scrapped uniform orders unilaterally. As a result, she alleged, thousands of handloom workers who depended on these contracts lost a major source of income.
She said the government had been placing uniform orders worth about ₹105 crore annually with 393 handloom cooperative societies across the state. Through these orders, she noted, thousands of workers secured regular employment.
However, she alleged that the sudden cancellation disrupted this support system and directly impacted workers’ earnings. At the same time, she criticised the government for failing to release additional orders linked to welfare departments.
Kalvakuntla Kavitha alleges handloom workers pushed into crisis
Further, Kalvakuntla Kavitha said authorities had not yet issued orders worth ₹200 crore for blankets and other clothing supplies to TESCO. Consequently, she said, the delay pushed handloom workers deeper into crisis.
She alleged that even after deadlines passed, officials withheld orders and weakened TESCO deliberately. According to her, such decisions indicated a systematic attempt to sideline cooperative institutions.
At the same time, she accused the Congress government of trying to divert these orders to private players. She claimed that the move would benefit select individuals while harming traditional workers.
Moreover, she demanded that the government immediately withdraw the decision and restore the orders to handloom societies. Otherwise, she warned, protests would intensify across the state.
Finally, Kalvakuntla Kavitha said handloom workers would launch a large-scale agitation if the government failed to reverse its stand.