Jeypore: At a time when there is a scarcity of masks in the markets of Koraput district, Shree Laxmi Ganapati Self Help Group at Chandanbadi Sahi here has come forward to stitch and supply them in bulks.
In a building at Chandanbadi Sahi, some forty women can be found busy at their sewing machines, stitching masks.
According to group president G Bharati and secretary Y Kanta, the members usually stitch school dresses. Seeing people running from medicine store to medicine store, asking for masks, they decided to stitch them instead.
“Since masks are regarded as one of the protective gears to stem spread of COVID-19, there has been a mad rush of people to get them for their near and dear ones. The situation has come to such a pass that masks are not available in market easily. So we decided to stitch them,” they said.
The SHG has ten founding members. In order to meet the demand they have employed thirty more. “We have been manufacturing masks for three days now. The packet we are supplying to schools, hostels and medicine stores contains ten masks. At a price of Rs 20 for each mask, we are selling a packet for Rs 200,” observed G Bharati and Y Kanta,
They said they are procuring raw materials from Ludhiana and Kolkata. They claimed their masks are washable and can be reused since they are made of cotton. “Since there is a demand for masks and ours is a local one and the price is comparatively low, our masks are doing well in the market. We are paying the women engaged to stitch masks by the number of masks they have stitched at the end of the day,” they added.
Local people said that the SHG has set an example for others as their initiative has done away with the black-marketing of masks in the locality.
PNN