A total of 119 Self Help Groups (SHGs) from four states in Northeast have produced 21,569 face masks to fight against COVID19 pandemic.
The SHGs have been producing the face masks at the initiative of the Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) under the Union ministry of rural development’s National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).
Officials in the Union ministry of rural development on Saturday said more than 132 lakh face masks have been produced by the members of a large number of SHGs across India.
The members of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in 24 states, covering 399 districts in the country, have joined the process of producing face masks.
In Mizoram, one Self Help Group (SHG) with 1 member started production work on March 27 in one district and has produced 100 masks so far.
In Nagaland, 48 SHGs with 475 members started production in 5 districts on March 28 and have produced 6,819 masks.
In Tripura, 45 SHGs with 173 members started work on March 30 in 4 districts and have produced 4,650 masks.
In Sikkim, 25 SHGs with 250 members started work on March 31 and have produced so far 10,000 masks.
All the SHGs from the Northeast reported on April 3 last.
Significantly, 21,028 members of 4,281 SHGs in 5 districts of Andhra Pradesh and 10,780 members of 1,927 SHGs in 32 districts of Tamil Nadu have produced 25,41,440 and 26,01,735 masks respectively in 10 days.
Members of SHGs of various states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and many Northeastern states are also involved in producing face masks.
A total of 65,936 SHG members from 14,522 SHGs are involved in the process and they have manufactured 132 lakh face masks, officials said.