Cotton bag making unit in a Maharashtrian village

Rotary Club of Walhekarwadi, RID 3131, along with the Jijau Social Foundation, an NGO, has helped set up a cotton bag stitching unit called the Jijau ­Mahila Cotton Bag Gruh Udyog at Walhekarwadi near Pune, ­Maharashtra. Last year the club, jointly with ­VolveWorks India, had distributed one lakh cotton bags to ­sensitise people against plastic pollution and encouraged them to replace ­polythene bags with such ­eco-friendly bags.

Initially 20 women have been identified to stitch and market these bags. They have been pursuing ­tailoring as a vocation but lacked the procuring and marketing skills for venturing into cotton bags. ­Workshops were conducted to educate them on where to procure the raw material, the different types of material available, identify ­target markets and transport the final product to the market. Initially the women stitched various bags, including fridge bags to store fruits and vegetables with the material provided to them by the club. “Going forward, we will support more women with sophisticated machines such as cutting and printing devices,” said club member Ganesh Bora.