Micro, mini industrial parks for women in Odisha districts: Naveen Patnaik

BHUBANESWAR: With an objective to take the SHG movement in the State to the next level and transform the women’s groups into small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced opening of micro and mini industrial parks in all the 30 districts.

Speaking at the plenary session on ‘Building Economic Independence for Women Empowerment’ at the Make-in-Odisha (MIO) conclave on Saturday, the chief minister said there are six lakh SHGs in Odisha with 70 lakh women members now and the state government now wants to convert these SHGs to SMEs. The government is ready to run the extra mile to make this happen, he said.

Naveen said, the aim is to further strengthen the Mission Shakti federations and turn them into vibrant financial hubs. He announced that Rs 1 crore will be given to each district federation of SHGs and Rs 50 lakh to each block-level federation which can be used by them as revolving funds. For the panchayat-level federations, a market complex and office will be provided.

Stating that women empowerment is not just a slogan for his government, Naveen said it is a sacred responsibility.The CM also spoke about the government’s decision to provide interest-free loans up to Rs 5 lakh to Mission Shakti women members and said lakhs of women of Odisha will be benefited by it.

On the sidelines of the session, principal secretary of the Mission Shakti department Sujata Kartikeyan said the department will immediately begin work on the micro and mini industrial parks for women. “We will prepare a detailed project report on the parks following consultation with MSME and Industry departments. We will seek technical support from stakeholders working in this direction. We will select the area for these parks based on availability of water, electricity and also the security of the SHG women who will work there,” she said.

On the occasion, Mission Shakti signed MoUs with Flipkart, Indian School of Business, Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council besides, Rubber, Chemical and Petrochemical Skill Development Council and Directorate of Horticulture and PRADAN, a non-government organisation. Kartikeyan informed that in the next few days, three more MoUs will be signed with WorldFish for production of export quality dry fish, International Rice Research Institute for value addition of rice and ICRISAT for value addition of ground nuts.

The chief minister launched a coffee table book on Mission Shakti and felicitated Kavita Sahu of Maa Tarani SHG of Cuttack, Prema Das of Sundargarh Dibyajyot SHG and Gayatri Sunai of Nuapada Bandurga SHG for high turnover and business achievements.