आंबेगावातील मासे विक्री करणाऱ्या महिलांचे श्रम वाचले. / The Labour saved is income raised

The Labour saved is income raised

     Aambegaon is a village in the Sawantwadi taluka, surrounded by hills. Agriculture is the main occupation of the village. There were brick kilns in the village before. 25 women from the dhangar(shepheard)community paved an independent way of employment. They buy fish at a wholesale rate at a local market and sell it door to door at homes in Sawantwadi. Bhagirath Gramvikas Pratishthan, Umed and Sindhurg District Central Co-operative Bank (SDCC) decided to support the initiative and strengthen their efforts.

   Fillet knives made from best of the steel were distributed among these women. The knives are a bit heavy but much more physical labour issaved as it gives them good grip making filleting a lot easier. 50 percent of grant was made available by SDCC bank and others. The Bank has also opened their bank accounts and in the following months the bank will also be giving 25 to 50,000 as cash-creditfacility as well as Ru-pay credit cards. It has become their routine to come to Sawantwadi at 6 am and leave by the bus at 4.30 pm after the sell is done. They walk 5 to 6 kilometres during the day for the selling without any complaints and it also serves them a profit of around 300 to 500 rupees. We are assured that with the bank's co-operation their profits will increase and saving will become a habit.

   It was the valuable contribution by the following people that made this initiative a success. The list includes Taluka initiative manager of Umed, Shri. Shivaram Parab and Regional Co-ordinator of Umed, Shri. Abhay Bhide, along with the Branch manager Shri. Nitin Sawant, Development officer Shri. Gothoskar and Bank sakhi Mrs. Sanjana Korgaonkar.