Assam's 'Covid-warrior' rural women are producing masks, hand sanitizers & disinfectants

Chethan Kumar | TNN | Updated: Apr 12, 2020, 19:33 IST

Hand sanitizers (Representtive image)

GUWAHATI: Rural women in Assam’s Jorhat will become India’s latest Covid-warriors and help the country battle the pandemic.
The Rural Women Technology Park (RWTP) in Jorhat, supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has engaged women to prepare products like hand sanitizers, homemade masks and liquid disinfectants to be freely distributed among poor families in nearby villages.
The DST said that rural women from the region have been trained to produce homemade masks from traditional ‘Gamocha’ (a traditional Assamese cotton towel), and that the design of the homemade mask has been finalized.
To begin with, the DST has purchased around 150 Gamochas — six masks can be made with each Gamocha — and two sewing machines have been arranged. The RWTP under CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, is supported by the SEED Division of DST.
It is proposed that the women be paid Rs 15 per mask. Aside from this, 200 liters of liquid disinfectant is being produced. “The raw materials required for liquid disinfectant like dettol, ethanol, glycerine, essential oil have been acquired. The disinfectant will also be distributed freely among the family members and poor people in the nearby village. The women of RWTP were trained before closing down on March 24,” the DST said.
The participant women prepared about 50 litres of hand sanitizer, 160 litres of liquid disinfectant which have been distributed among the 60 women participants and their family members.
Professor Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, DST, while stating that meeting a challenge such as Covid-19 needs strong community participation and support, said: “Self-help groups and dedicated NGOs are perfect vehicles in the current scenario for awareness creation, introducing relevant solutions, making and distributing the low tech items such as masks and disinfectants.”
The RWTP also prepared posters and leaflets on Covid-19, ‘do’s and don’ts’ in Assamese language for making people aware about the virus and precautionary measures to be taken during the present situation.