Weavers on the warpath | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Weavers on the warpath

None | By, Gorakhpur
Feb 17, 2006 12:25 AM IST

THOUSANDS OF weavers took to the streets and powerloom units remained closed here on Thursday, protesting against ?neglect? of the sector in the State budget presented on Wednesday. They also staged a dharna at the district magistrate?s office after taking out a procession from Gorakhnath and blamed the government for ?deceiving? weavers. They said the Samajwadi Party had promised to provide uninterrupted power supply to weavers at a subsidised rate, but had not fulfilled it.

THOUSANDS OF weavers took to the streets and powerloom units remained closed here on Thursday, protesting against “neglect” of the sector in the State budget presented on Wednesday.  

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They also staged a dharna at the district magistrate’s office after taking out a procession from Gorakhnath and  blamed the government for “deceiving” weavers.

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They said the Samajwadi Party had promised to provide uninterrupted power supply to weavers at a subsidised rate, but had not fulfilled it. Presiding over the dharna, Qamruzzama Ansari and Chaudhary Najmuddin said the State Government ignored demands of weavers for the last 30 months.

All powerloom units in Zahidabad, Gorakhnath, Rasoolpur, Nathmalpur, Naurangabad and other localities were closed. Corporator Nabiullah Ansari said Uttar Pradesh Bunker Front leader Nafees Ansari, Habibur Rehman Ansari, Junaid Ahmad, Asgar Ali blamed power corporation officials for harassing powerloom owners on the pretext of checking load of electricity meters.

They said many FIRs were lodged against the poor under the Electricity Act.

They handed over a four-point memorandum to the district officials and demanded uninterrupted power supply to the powerloom industry and installation of new transformers in localities where powerloom units are being run.

They said frequent breakdown and unscheduled rostering in different shifts had deprived nearly 10,000 weavers of job.

They demanded that electricity bills for powerlooms should be based on per horsepower instead of meter reading.

Meanwhile, power corporation officials, along with district officials, kicked off an intensive combing drive to check power theft in different areas.

Members of the team checked electricity meters and load of commercial consumers in various localities supplied by Nasirabad Feeder of Buxipur power sub-station. The combing drive will continue for three days and 15 teams have been deployed in various localities.

They will check electric meter of nursing homes, marriage hall and other commercial units.

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