Bantwal: Free Sarees of Tamil Nadu Sold at Throw-Away Price in State
Report and Pics by Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal (RD)
Bantwal, Feb 8:
The sarees which were meant for free distribution to families below poverty line (BPL) in Tamil Nadu (TN) during Pongal festival are being sold in shops across the state. However, how these sarees reached the shops in Karnataka is a matter of debate now.
The Tamil Nadu government has been distributing sarees to poor families since 1990. The government allocates huge funds in its budget every year in this regard. Moreover, it’s one of the most popular schemes of the TN government. But it was found that the same scheme has been misused in the state. The free sarees were sold at Mangalore for Rs 45 and at Puttur for Rs 50. The middlemen who are involved in supplying these sarees to shops earn a margin of about Rs 30 to 40 on each saree. The sarees which were meant for free distribution in TN through fair price shops before January 31 are available over the counter in several shops both in Mangalore and Puttur.
Providing cloth to the needy families has been the sole objective of Tamil Nadu behind introducing this scheme. Even the union government decided to extend this same to rest of the country. This scheme has provided employment to thousands of people who are dependent on handloom. This has also helped in rejuvenating the handloom industry. But, these sarees procured by middlemen by luring the poor families to part with their stocks or by bribing the fair-price-shopkeepers to sell the stocks of sarees for meager amounts have found the market in the state.
The sarees were supposed to be the valuable possession of poor families in TN which has spent Rs 263 crore during 2006-07 and Rs 273 crore during 2007-08 to manufacture these sarees and dhotis for poor people. Owing to the scheme, about 350 handloom and 85 power-loom industries have been functioning in TN, employing around 20,000 weavers earning their livelihood through these industries.
Earlier, these middlemen secured huge stock of dhotis and sarees and supplied to several clothes shops across the state. However, due to the nominal demand for dhotis, its stocks were withdrawn and returned to the consignor as well as major middlemen in TN. The stocks of sarees are still available on premium prices in shops in Mangalore and Puttur.
TN sources state that the government implements many useful schemes in the state, but they do not reach the targetted people. The same applies to the distribution of free sarees and dhotis to BPL families in TN. According to government rules, Tamil Nadu Handloom Workers Co-Operative Society (Co-Optex) is manufacturing and supplying these sarees and dhotis to the government, as per a contract. The Co-Optex has affixed the ‘Butterfly’ quality mark to these sarees.
Though Co-Optex has branches in Mangalore, they too are unaware of this malpractice in the state. They wash their hands off the matter saying that their handloom units in TN have manufactured and supplied the sarees as per the requisition of the TN government. Hence, it is the responsibility of TN government to identify all those involved in the racket of supplying sarees meant for distributing to BPL families in their state with assistance of the state administration.