PR putting in place draft policies on weavers, SEZs

The committee appointed by Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi to study the problems of weavers after his visit to Sircilla last week has begun its exercise of chalking out a draft policy aimed at improving the lot of weavers.

Soon after its return from a visit to Sircilla on Monday to study the ground realities and understand the problems better, the committee headed by former IAS officer K. S. R. Murthy, met to finalize its report. It also heard the suggestions given by Jayasri, Mahila Convener of the Weavers United Front, Anantapur.

The seven-member committee includes a BC leader V.G.R. Naragoni, former IAS officer C. Uma Malleswara Rao, former APCO chairman Bandi Hanumanthu, Supreme Court advocate E.V. Venugopal, cardiac surgeon G. Naga Sheyana Rao and Venkat Prasad.

In the process of studying the problem in depth, it has asked all organizations interested in the welfare of handloom/power loom weavers to submit their memoranda to the committee and finalized a schedule of meetings till October 12. The panel will visit Nagari in Chittoor district to interact with power loom weavers. After its final meeting on October 12, the committee will submit a report on how the PR proposes to help the suffering weavers and stop the suicides.

SEZ issue

Meanwhile, the PR’s think-tank is also busy on how it would deal with the issue of SEZs and development sans displacement and how it would make the farmers shareholders. Mr. Murthy said that they had laid down a few basic rules and terms of reference with regard to SEZs.

They include employment to the displaced and making them shareholders in the companies that come up in the SEZ, free education and Medicare, ensuring pollution-free industries, assessing exact requirement of land and strict monitoring of land usage.