Women of the group are getting empowered from the oil mill processing unit located in Ripa

Raipur: The Rural Industrial Park (RIPA) being operated in Gauthans under the ambitious scheme of Chhattisgarh Government is improving the lives of villagers and women. The efforts to make RIPA self-reliant have started yielding positive and better results. Villagers and women have now become skilled and are moving towards becoming self-reliant through small employment.

An oil mill processing unit has been established by the women in Ripa of Gram Panchayat Koliyari (Netanar) of Narayanpur district. In which 10 members of Bajrangi Self-Help Group have been linked with RIPA and given training related to processing and packaging in the oil mill processing unit. After training, Bajrangi Self-Help Group is purchasing oilseed crops from nearby farmers, processing and packaging them and selling them in large quantities in the market. Due to the excellent quality of oil, its demand is increasing day by day in the market. The group has so far packed 600 liters of oil, the price of which is Rs 250 per litre. Till now the group has sold oil worth Rs 1 lakh 50 thousand. Earlier, the members of the group could earn only Rs 1 to 1500 per month. But today the monthly income of each member has reached Rs 6 thousand. This group has currently received orders for oil worth approximately Rs 10 lakh. The women of Bajrangi Group say that along with the oil processing unit work, we also do agricultural work at home and MNREGA work. He said that we are very happy to do this work, because getting good income helps in the maintenance of the family.

It is noteworthy that Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel had launched Mahatma Gandhi Rural Industrial Park Scheme RIPA on 2 October 2022, on the day of Gandhi Jayanti. Under the scheme, 300 rural industrial parks are being developed in the first phase. The state government has made a budget provision of Rs 600 crore for the development of these parks. Rs 2 crore were allocated for the development of each RIPA. Under the scheme, by connecting Gauthans to Mahatma Gandhi Rural Industrial Park, the income of families in rural areas is increasing. Villagers are getting new sources of increasing income due to which they are becoming economically stronger. Due to promotion of entrepreneurship in villages, employment is being created on a large scale at the local level, due to which people no longer have to go out for daily wages.