Over 700 tribal women are stitching personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for corona warriors in Dungarpur as part of the contract given to a rainwear company in the district for 100,000 PPE kits by the Textile Ministry. "Our priority was to hire single, poor, widow and needy women, and provide them a regular source of income during the challenging times of Covid-19 when many people were losing jobs due to the economic shutdown.

We hired 700 women from Banswara. They are being paid Rs 9,500 a month. They are also being provided pick; drop facility," said Deenbandhu Trivedi, owner of New Zeel Rainwear. The Textile Ministry recently gave us the order to make 100,000 PPE kits, he said and added, we wanted a strong workforce to meet the order on time. "The idea was to do quality work and help the people. We zeroed upon the tribal women in Banswara. We had trained them under the skill development project," Trivedi said.

Apart from the pick & drop facility, the company is also providing them free lunch. "We are confident of finishing the order in one month. These women are quite efficient. The state government has also given us the order to produce PPE kits to meet the district's needs. For example, we are manufacturing 650 PPE kits for Banswara and many others," Trivedi said. "Our technical staff has been guiding them. For example, after cutting and stitching, we need to do tapping to make the PPE kits water and air proof. These women have learnt the art and are stitching them fast," he said. The company's plant in Bhiwandi (Thane) is also producing PPE kits. Around 1,200 workers, from UP and Bihar, are employed there.

At a time when the migrants were returning to their villages, "our workers are working hard to produce PPE kits for corona warriors," he said. "We have residential facility at the plant to accommodate them and are also serving them food. We are following all guidelines and are providing sanitizers, gloves and masks," he said.