Conservancy workers of the Ponnamaravathi town panchayat in Pudukottai district have been trained to prepare disinfectants and phenyl to supply to residents and offices. The initiative would help them make an extra money and help in creating savings for the workers’ children, officials here said.
The workers were given a month-long training on the method of preparing soap oil and phenyl by a trainer from Madurai while the town panchayat arranged for an initial investment of ₹1,50,000 to begin making the items through donors in the area, said Executive Officer V. Dhanushkodi. A total of 3,000 litres of phenyl and 1,000 litres of soap oil have been prepared so far and are ready for sale.
The town panchayat has 33 workers on its payroll and each of them earn ₹ 12,000 per month. However, a lion’s share of their earnings is spent in paying off money borrowed from loan lenders. What is left is very little and usually insufficient for food, rent and other living expenses, he said. The aim is to create some additional income for the workers and provide clean, unadulterated sanitization products to the public.
The price of soap oil has been fixed at ₹ 60 per litre, while phenyl is being sold at ₹40. A brand name - Sugandham - has been given to these products which the conservancy workers can supply at the door of residents.
So far, ₹66,000 has been raised by sale of these products, of which ₹ 20 would be the profit earned per bottle sold. ‘We have decided that ₹ 1000 would be handed over to each worker directly, while ₹ 500 would be deposited in a recurring deposit account opened for all of them. The remaining ₹500 would be saved up for the education of their children, he said. The officials have arranged for sale of these products to other town panchayats in Pudukottai. We are looking to expand into making floor cleaners, toilet cleaners and detergent powders. The training and preparation will begin soon, he added.
