THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: "It has been five months since I got my salary. Even ration grains are turning into a luxury. We don’t have a home, and I haven’t yet paid my house rent for the past four months. Where will I go with my husband if my landlord kicks me out?”

This is the concern of 59-year-old Lathika from Balaramapuram. “At least we have two cent land, but what about them? Her husband was a painter but was forced to quit his job due to plantar wart disease” says Sheela, a co-worker of Lathika.

Balaramapuram Kaithiri is renowned and has its name imprinted along with the elites in world garments. Apart from the big paeans for the clothing, It is all but penury for the workers in the handloom department.

Lathika is a worker at Mudavoorpara Handloom Weaving Industry Cooperative Society in Thannivila. She took the difficult decision to sell her house and property in Pallichal panchayat for conducting the marriage of her elder daughter. Things turned upside down in her life as her husband in a matter of days turned a patient suffering from plantar warts; that simply restricted him to the house. Lathika was devastated. It added to her worries as not all medicines for her husband's treatment are available from government hospitals and it requires good spending to get the necessary ones.

“No one lends money to a handloom worker because they cannot pay it back on time,” says Lathika.

Balaramapuram handloom region consists of Balaramapuram, Pallichal, Venganur, Kalliyur, Athiyannur gram panchayats, and some areas of Neyyattinkara municipality. Till ten years ago, more than 50,000 people were working as laborers, entrepreneurs, and traders. The number of handloom workers has now plunged to just 11,500. Many others have tried their luck at MGNREGA rural employment works.

The workers won't even get paid Rs 500, even after committing to ten long hours of daily work. The wage for weaving a handloom dhoti is Rs 215. If work for ten hours, two bundles can be easily weaved. If a saree is woven, Rs 315 will reach a laborer. It is unusual for workers to do two sarees a day as these are woven meticulously, and if made at speed, the workers fear a drop in quality.

Even the education department, which has given orders to weave school uniforms, has not paid wages since March. The wages for weaving one meter of uniforms is 52 rupees 42 paise.