Srivilliputhur: Officials are struggling to find a solution as political parties have expressed support for the protest being carried out by weavers in Virudhunagar district, demanding a wage hike.
On behalf of the Tamil Nadu government, one veshti and one saree each are distributed free of cost to ration card holders for the Pongal festival. Similarly, in government and government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu, four sets of uniforms are provided free of cost every year by the School Education Department to students benefiting from the nutritious meal scheme. The free saree and uniform fabrics are woven through handlooms, pedal looms, and power looms in Virudhunagar, Madurai, Theni, Tenkasi, and Erode districts.
Weaving is carried out using more than 2,600 handlooms, over 11,000 pedal looms, and more than 42,000 power looms. In Virudhunagar district, weaving work is being carried out on more than 5,000 pedal looms in 29 weavers’ cooperative production and sales societies operating in areas including Mugavur, Punalveli, Sethur, Sokkanathanputhur, Sundarapandiyam, and Avarampatti in and around Rajapalayam and Srivilliputhur.
Here, sarees are woven for 8 months and uniform cloth (gada cloth) for 4 months. Through this, more than 15,000 weavers in the district get employment. The Tamil Nadu government announced that a new type of saree would be supplied for the 2027 Pongal festival. However, the yarn required for it has not been supplied since last May. As a result, the weavers were affected. At the same time, nothing has been announced regarding an increase in wages for weaving the new type of saree.
Following this, the government should bear the cost of modifying the looms for the production of the new type of saree. The wage for each saree should be fixed at Rs. 250. Compensation of Rs. 50,000 in total should be provided for five months of unemployment at Rs. 10,000 per month. Weavers have been engaged in an ongoing protest, pressing demands including the complete procurement of the old sarees currently in stock.
At the cooperative society office, they are engaging in various forms of protest such as boycotting weaving work without buying yarn, staging a siege protest at the cooperative society office, road blockades, opening a gruel pot, and begging. In support of the weavers, a gruel pot protest has been underway for more than 10 days at Punalveli near Rajapalayam on behalf of the CITU.
In Rajapalayam Chettiyarpatti, a protest demonstration was held on behalf of the DMK, and in Punalveli, a protest demonstration was held on behalf of the Naam Tamilar Katchi. In Srivilliputhur, a road blockade protest was held under the leadership of former AIADMK minister Inbathamilan, and in Rajapalayam, a road blockade protest was held under the leadership of various party functionaries including the DMK, AIADMK, and Communist parties.
Today (Sept. 22), weavers are set to stage a sit-in protest at the Rajapalayam Taluk Office under the leadership of political party functionaries. The support being extended by political parties to the weavers’ protest has created pressure to find a solution.
Rajapalayam constituency MLA and Minister Jegadeeswari met the Handloom Minister twice within five days and held talks. She posted on social media that a quick solution to this issue would be found. However, since the government has not issued an announcement regarding wage increase, the protest continues.
Regarding this, pedal-loom weavers who weave free sarees said that when a new type of saree is introduced, it is customary to fix the wage accordingly. While it takes 2 hours and 30 minutes to weave an old-type saree on a pedal loom, weaving a new-type saree takes an additional 1 hour. However, this year’s government order on the new-type veshti and saree does not include any information about wages or the cost of modifications to the looms.
The five-member committee formed to seek views on the wage hike met only representatives and left without meeting the weavers. They said the wage should be fixed in such a way that an income of Rs. 500 per day is earned.
