Govt creates more than 5 lakh man-days work amid lockdown

Kolkata: Turning adversity into an opportunity for the daily-wage earners amid the lockdown, the Mamata Banerjee government has successfully created more than 5 lakh man-days work in the past one month just by preparing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), masks and hand sanitiser.

The state government took the initiative to set up its own mechanism to prepare the same. It has helped in producing more than 4.50 lakh

PPEs, 18.65 lakh masks and 2 lakh litre hand sanitiser since the production had begun since March 18.

The state government would have faced difficulties if the initiative had not been taken as the

Centre had sent only a handful number of protective gears compared to that of the state's requirement.

The initiative helped the state government in providing safety equipment to people fighting in the frontline against COVID-19 and at the same time, it also ensured some means of livelihood to thousands of people, who were sitting jobless during the lockdown.

According to a senior official of the state government, the entire work is going on following the lockdown protocol. People engaged in preparing the protective equipment maintain safe distances at their units and regular sanitisation is also carried out at these places.

Women at households at Metiabruz in Kolkata that is famous for stitching, many workers at Burabazar those are experts in the same, labourers in different villages, clusters and cottage industry were engaged in stitching PPEs and masks. They were provided with all necessary training on an immediate basis on the preparation of PPEs and masks.

Giving a bifurcation of the man-days created, the officer said: "Preparation of both PPE and masks is very much labour intensive. In the past 38 days, around 4 lakh man-days have been created as the besides cutting and stitching of clothes to prepare the masks, sorting and transportation was also a major task as it also had to reach to the places where it is supposed to be used. While around 1 lakh man-days were created in preparing and transportation of hand sanitiser."

Every day around 12,000 to 15000 PPEs, 30,000 to 50,000 masks and 5000 to 6000 litre of hand sanitiser get prepared. Around six thousand workers directly get job every day to prepare the items while many more get involved indirectly for transportation and sorting of the

same.

Different district authorities have also taken initiatives of its own to prepare masks. For example, in Malda, only 1.2 lakh job-days have also been created by engaging local people in preparing masks. District administration is giving the material and the people are getting Rs 5 each to stitch each mask. At the same time, Self Help Groups of various state government departments are also preparing the same.