COIMBATORE: The district administration has finally woken up to the opportunity opened up by the ban on use and throw plastic items and is in a rush to cash in on the huge demand for cloth bags. Pointing out that the district has a capacity to produce six lakh cloth bags a day, officials said they were now in the process of identifying members of self-help groups who are capable of making such bags.“We have so far identified a total of 245 members from 12 blocks who have completed training in tailoring under various government schemes. The process to identify more such members is still on. A person is expected to stitch 2,500 cloth bags a day on an average,” said an official with Magalir Thittam, the body which assists women below the poverty line.The official said they had been receiving enquiries on bulk orders from Coimbatore as well as neighbouring districts. “We want to access the production capacity before accepting any bulk order. First preference will be given to individual member of self-help groups or groups as a whole.”He said this was the right time to link the trained self-help group members with the companies that are in need of alternatives to plastics. “If we miss the opportunity, then the orders might go to private companies. We have been trying to assist such members to earn anywhere between Rs 9,000 and Rs 15,000 a month.”The process to identify the eligible candidates would be completed within a couple of weeks, when production would also be commenced.The official said there were instances of women, who were trained in tailoring, return to farm work as they could not bag enough orders to sustain themselves. “Now, they all want to start stitching cotton bags, which doesn’t need great skills.”The official also unveiled the plans to centralize both the procurement of clothes and marketing of bags through panchayat level federations. “We are in talks with the weaving companies for bulk orders of clothes. It is up to the women to opt for centralized marketing or they could sell to local retailers. Minimum price of a bag will be Rs 5.”Welcoming the move, R Raveendran, of Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore, said the self-help groups should think out-of-box and produce innovative bags to attract the customers, otherwise private companies with automation technology would grab the opportunity and produce bags at much lower prices.

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