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Receding water leaves behind devastation, damaged looms
As the flood waters recede in Varanasi, the story of the destruction they caused is revealed. Among those hit hard are a dozen handlooms and powerlooms in Amarpur
As the flood waters recede in Varanasi, the story of the destruction they caused is revealed. Among those hit hard are a dozen handlooms and powerlooms in Amarpur Madhia.
Master weaver Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, the owner of a loom, said, “The powerloom is heavily damaged. It will require extensive and expensive repairs. The flood hit us twofold: one, for the last 10 days, weavers haven’t made an earning because the powerloom was flooded and weaving work was at a complete halt; two, it damaged powerlooms and handlooms.”
Ansari said that he will have to spend around Rs 15,000 to get the powerloom repaired.
Khaleel Ahmad, another weaver, said that his powerloom too is damaged. It will be functional only after extensive repairs.
Also affected are a large number of weavers, who eke out a living by weaving Banarasi sarees and stoles. Ahmad said that on an average, a weaver earns Rs 150 – Rs 200 daily after working hard throughout the day. They haven’t earned anything for the last 10 days and it will be more than a few days before the looms are repaired and they start earning again.
Raju Ahmad, another weaver, said that the repair will be possible only after powerlooms dry up completely. The first round of cleaning of the powerlooms and handlooms has already been done and they have approached a local mechanic to repair their looms.
Many powerlooms and handlooms based in the houses in areas along Rivers Varuna and Ganga suffered similar damage.
According to official sources, the flood has also damaged over 600 acres of crop in the low-lying areas along the Ganga.
Dharmendra Kumar of Jakkhini said that crops and vegetables grown in low-lying areas along the river are completely devastated. Now that the water is receding, farmers will have to wait for about a fortnight before they will be able to plough the fields again.
