Ruling TRS Working President and Telangana Minister K T Rama Rao on Sunday started an online petition campaign appealing to the Centre to remove Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handloom products.
The removal of GST is required in order to safeguard the lives of weavers and protect the country's cultural heritage, he said.
Rama Rao stated in the petition that the country is home to almost five million handloom workers who produce unique products without the aid of mechanical energy.
The highly decentralised and rural-based handloom industry mostly has women in its workforce, a release from his office quoted him as saying.
On Saturday, he wrote a postcard addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll back five per cent GST on handloom products.
"GST on handlooms is a direct threat to the millions of people who earn their livelihoods in the handloom sector," Rama Rao said.
(With PTI Inputs)
