KCR’S sarees not even fit for wiping floor, grumble women

HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s much-publicised Bathukamma Saree Scheme to distribute sarees as Dussehra gift to 1.5 lakh women below poverty line (BPL) has drawn flak for poor quality of the garments while the opposition hinted at a scam.

The women who were given the impression that they would get good quality sarees are not happy. Instances of women rejecting the sarees at the fair price shop counters, burning them on roads, cleaning vehicles with them and throwing them into dustbins have been reported from different parts of state. Rao had announced the scheme in his Independence Day speech.

The saree scheme was a twopronged strategy of the government to please power loom weavers and womenfolk .

The government ordered a total of 1.05 lakh sarees at a cost of ₹222 crore for the scheme. The beneficiary women from BPL families were to be distributed sarees for three days starting Monday. But the women, mostly agriculture labourers in villagers, trashed the scheme giving it a thumbs down.

“We skipped work, and stood in queues for hours hoping to get nice sarees for the festival. But we were disappointed over the quality of polyester sarees, which does not cost even ₹50-60 each. It is not worth even for cleaning floors. Rather than insulting us with poor quality sarees, KCR shouldn’t have started the scheme,” a woman said.

THE WOMEN WHO WERE GIVEN THE IMPRESSION THAT THEY WOULD GET GOOD QUALITY SAREES ARE NOT HAPPY