Unable to carry out their regular activities for livelihood due to the lockdown, some SHG women trained in tailoring in Mahabubnagar district have taken to making PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and masks, with the help of the district administration and District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).
The initiative has not only helped them make the most out of the current situation, but has helped the society by making quality PPE kits available to the district administration for supply to frontline medical and health professionals.
“These PPE kits are making our ‘warriors’ more confident,” District Collector S. Venkata Rao said.
According to DRDA officials, making (stitching) these PPE kits has been taken up on April 12, after a couple of days of orientation to the SHG women.
After consulting the higher-ups, the district administration has secured the prescribed spun-bound synthetic material to make the PPE kits having frock/gown/apron, trousers/pants, cap, footwear and mask.
“To begin with, we identified 25 skilled SHG women trained in tailoring. We bring them to our workshop here (Mahabubnagar) in our vehicles every morning and drop them in the evening,” District project manager of DRDA A. Nagamallika told The Hindu .
The DRDA has also been providing meals and tea to the SHG women at Palamuru Zilla Mahila Samakhya building at Bandameedipally.
Each woman is able to stitch 5 PPE kits per day. “We have plans to make 10,000 PPE kits as of now. The wages for each kit will be decided by the district administration. There are 250 more SHG women engaged in making masks across the district and we are paying tailoring charges of ₹5 per piece after providing the material. The DRDA is selling these masks at ₹15 each,” Ms. Nagamallika explained, adding that already over 1.2 lakh masks have been made.
