Bhopal: SHG women play a key role in combating corona

BHOPAL: The village women are playing a major role in battling corona. They are manufacturing soaps, sanitisers and masks for village panchayats, besides running awareness campaigns. Their products are used in Covid centres in villages and also in Bhopal.

These women were once trained by the government under State rural livelihood mission (SRLM) and they were provided financial help for running their livelihoods.

Now, 31,000 such women are part of self-help groups in 417 villages of Bhopal. Out of them, 200 women are working to manufacture soaps, sanitisers and masks.

The soaps manufactured by them are supplied to the Covid Care Centres in village panchayats where labourers who have returned from metro cities are staying.

So far these women have supplied 4,000 soaps and 30 litres of sanitisers in different centres.

Besides, they have 10,000 soaps and 20 litres of sanitiser with them that will be supplied to village panchayats.

According to SRLM officials, there are 60 women engaged in soap manufacturing, 165 in the manufacturing of masks, PPE kit and sanitiser and 970 are working in groups to raise awareness about coronavirus.

They are also helping the health teams in identifying patients with corona symptoms.

Bhopal project manager SRLM Rekha Pandey said these women were inducted into the SHG in 2017 and since then we have a chain of 31,000 women.

She said these women are in 417 villages and have been engaged in some or the other economic activity for which the government had extended them financial help.

She says now they are playing a key role in our battle with corona in villages. These women have helped in the massive production of masks and PPE kits a year ago and we are still producing masks and soaps.

Rekha Pandey says they manufactured these products at massive scale in 2020. Now, due to sudden lockdown, we are short of raw materials but still, we have manufactured sanitisers and soaps to meet the requirement in our villages.

These women are known in their villages and when they reach any house for corona related projects, they are welcomed and it becomes easy for officials to take samples or to identify the patients with symptoms of corona, she says.