Rayadurgam: Textile parks yet to take shape

Rayadurgam (Anantapur): Thousands of workers particularly women are working in the garment industry and living in temporary camps in Bengaluru while the much-promised textile parks in Pamidi, Dharmavaram, Hindupur and Dharmavaram are yet to become a reality, thanks to the lip service of the government towards weavers and the handloom industry for decades.

The district has a great potential for emerging as textile hub and brighter prospects for employment generation, if the present YSRCP government applied its mind on the development of textile parks, feels Kariappa, a textile worker working in Undegolam in Rayadurgam mandal. With a huge weavers' population spread in the district a lot could be done to make it a textile hub.

Pamidi, also known for its garment industries and substantial weavers' population too is neglected by rulers, says a weaver Kumaraswamy. The much-promised textile park is yet to make any headway and officials say that land issues for the park is delaying its establishment.

Even Hindupur and Dharmavaram, the weavers' towns having more than a lakh weavers' population is lagging in textile parks establishment.

At the textile park in Undegolam, 5 units has been established with nearly 700 workers employed and 20 more are in the process of setting up units at a cost of Rs 2.60 crore. If all 54 units are set up, the industry provides jobs for 6,000 locals. Garment making is a cottage industry in the textile town and thousands of families are living on textile jobs.

If textile parks are set up in Pamidi, Dharmavaram and Hindupur, thousands of people working in Bengaluru would return to their native villages.