The MP government has once again made a hollow promise of offering subsidised power to the ailing powerloom sector. Some days ago the state government made cosmetic changes in old subsidy orders to offer power at Rs 2 per unit to the sector but only few powerloom owners will be benefited. Small-scale weavers of the town protested and staged demonstrations against frequent power cuts.

Weavers say orders are there since 2000, when the Congress government had offered subsidised power to the sector. The new orders will only benefit master weavers, who run their looms on a connected load of 25 HP.

Burhanpur (Burhan means the shield of defenders) is encircled by a 3.5-km wall, inhabited by 250,000 people. People here are prone to pulmonary diseases, mainly due to the prevalence of cotton fibres and dust.

Burhanpur, which produces 2.5 million metres of cotton cloth everyday, is now running short of cloth for its weavers.

A report prepared by a committee headed by Ikram Ansari, a member and vice-chairman of the Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council of India, fell on deaf years. "Nothing has happened during the past four years. The state government makes promises on paper. The sector is ailing and dying," Ansari told Business Standard.

Criticising the state government on its recent decision to offer subsidised power to the powerloom sector, he said, "The facility is available for the past 10 years. When there is no power, it makes no sense to reduce power tariffs."

The weavers of Burhanpur have no space to expand their processing units. Most of the powerlooms were built in the 1950s and weavers can't migrate. "Looms get reduced to scrap whenever they are removed," Ansari said, adding, "weavers have no fund to purchase new powerlooms. Banks turn down their loan applications and sanction only to cooperatives."