Andhra Women Pitch In To Fight COVID-19, Earn Livelihood

New Delhi: A group of women running a tailoring unit in Andhra Pradesh has joined hands with the government in not only fighting COVID-19 but also generating livelihood for themselves at the time of lockdown.

The tailoring unit located in Lakkavaram village of East Godavari is producing 15,000 face masks, 6,000 shoe covers and 5,000 lab coats everyday.

The unit, run by 200 women got the order from the state government to produce the protective gear for the health workers engaged in treatment of COVID-19 patients as well as common people last week. Each woman earns Rs 500 per day thus supplementing the income of her family.

Jyothi, who has been working at the tailoring unit for the last 40 days, said, “My father used to run a fruits business which closed down due to the lockdown. We depended on him totally to run the house.” Now, she has taken the charge to run the household.

Manav Subodh, founder of NGO ‘1M1B’ that helped the tailoring unit become functional said, “The women already had the skills of stitching and tailoring. Most of them are extremely poor and even their husbands have lost their jobs. They are not only earning livelihood but also providing PPEs for frontline corona workers.”