Still, not many knew what kind of allocation had been proposed—most had skipped the budget speech owing to load shedding or due to plain disinterest. By late evening, though, everybody knew that Chidambaram had announced this sprawling township 70 km from Mumbai as one of six centres to be developed as mega-clusters (Bhiwandi for powerlooms) for various sectors, and that Rs 70 crore was sanctioned for infrastructure development and improving production.

“As per my knowledge, the amount has been allotted for the proposed textile park in the city,” said Bhiwandi and Nizampur Municipal Commissioner Shivmurti Naik.

“In any way, this will be for the betterment of the powerloom sector and the city. We had been demanding some sort of help for the city,” said Faizan Azmi, president of the Maharashtra State Powerloom Industry.

“We had also met the textile minister and the Union agriculture minister to help us out.”

But just building textile parks would not suffice, the industry leaders were quick to say. “Powerloom owners need bank loans and electricity at subsided rates for improvement of the sector,” said Zahid Mukhtar, who owns 144 powerloom units in Bhiwandi.

Planning Commission member Dr Saida Hamid had visited the city last month to study the requirements of the powerloom township.

Bhiwandi has nearly 5.5 lakh powerloom units and 15 lakh workers, mostly migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The town contributes nearly 40 per cent of the national production from the powerloom sector. Picking Bhiwandi as one of the handloom, handicraft and powerloom mega-clusters also makes political sense: Bhiwandi is now a separate Lok Sabha seat, with a chunk of Muslims belonging to north India.

Yet, for the illiterate powerloom workers, the announcement meant little more than a slight glimmer of hope for better times. “I don’t know anything about the budget. But if anything good is happening for the city, we are happy with it,” said 65-year-old Aji Mulla, a native of Allahabad who has been a powerloom worker in Bhiwandi for 35 years.