Hill brooms made by Ganjam jail inmates will reach markets
What's the story
Hill brooms made by the inmates of a prison in Odisha's Ganjam district will soon be available in the market, officials said on Friday.
The district administration, in association with the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) and Mission Shakti, provided a three-day training from Tuesday to the prisoners of the Chhatrapur sub-jail on making of hill brooms.
Training
Forty-four out of around 150 jail inmates took the training
District Collector Vijay Kulange and District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Project Director Shinde Bhausaheb inaugurated the training program, which aims to make all the prisoners self-reliant.
As many as 44 out of around 150 inmates of the jail took the training program and have shown their interest to make the hill broom inside the jail.
Raw materials
Raw materials were provided to them for making the brooms
"We have provided raw materials like hill broom, bamboo stick, and plastic pipe to them," said Jyoti Prakash Mohanty, Deputy Chief Executive of ORMAS district unit.
"As the making charge, we are providing Rs. 7 per piece of hill broom," he said.
"A producer group of Burutula panchayat in Patrapur block in the district provided them raw material to make the brooms," he said.
Marketing
Brooms will be available in retail shops of Ganjam Hata
The brooms will be available in retail shops of Ganjam Hata, set up by district administration and Berhampur wholesalers, while Ganjam Gruhini Producers' Company Ltd. will market the products.
Besides, training on making dry foods like chips of potato, sweet potato, and banana was imparted to inmates. At least 15 inmates were trained to make these items to be marketed by Ganjam Gruhini Co.