MF AHMAD
Daltonganj, Jan 5: The Koel Aajeevika Apparel Park (KAAP) in Chainpur has been non-functional since August 2002 and no fabric work is being carried out for the self-help group of women.
The KAAP did a very smart business when it produced around 2 lakhs of the Tirangas. The park was then bustling with scissors, thread, and tailoring.
However, more than 90 women were later jobless for the simple reason of no order for any fabric work after the last Independence Day. Some women come to the park, chat among themselves and go back home without stitching any thread.
The district programme manager of the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society Bimlesh Kumar Shukla said, “Our KAAP is without any fabric activity right now. Our women of the self-help group called Sakhi Mandal are idle. It’s a challenging time for all of us.”
Shukla further added. “This KAAP can be revived only when there is a demand from the market. The textile market is very aggressive and very trendy now. It is rises by the brands and we are no brand at all.”
This KAAP was started during the tenure of the then Palamu DC Shantanu Agrahari in the last days of 2019 and it proved its utility in the 2020 Covid pandemic when women braving lockdowns stitched green fabric face masks in thousands and initially sold it for Rs 20. They also prepared homemade hand wash.
It kept producing masks till 2021 and KAAP’s masks had a good market then again it fell for months till the nation began Tiranga Yatra in 2022 and this KAAP making comeback did a brisk business by way of producing Tirangas priced far cheaper than the market. KAAP’s Tiranga was of high quality in terms of fabric and finishing as well.
Shukla said that KAAP has a stock of Rs 22 lakh plus worth of stitched school uniforms and is for government schools from classes 1 to 5.
“These uniforms are not being bought by the government schools now following a change of colour of the uniform. The result is these school uniform worth Rs 22 lakh is gathering dust and fears run high if rats will leave these stitched clothes any good and undamaged,” he said.
“The government schools have declined to buy our stock of uniforms citing a colour change of the uniform while other textile dealers refuse to buy it even half of the price for the simple reason that no private school will adopt this colour uniform because of its being official uniform once upon a time,” said sources.
Despite being shut, The KAAP’s monthly electricity bill is at the rate of the industrial unit and is pretty much soaring like Rs 35,000 per month, said Shukla.
He said that it is a great financial burden on this KAAP in the wake of its crumbling financial status. Sources said KAAP is not even in a position to pay its arrears on the electricity bills
