The Tiruchirapalli City Corporation has established an exclusive centre for selling the products of self-help groups (SHG) at the Central Bus Stand.
The centre is likely to be inaugurated soon and it will be manned by a federation of SHGs. It will coordinate with the self-help groups functioning in the corporation limits to display their products for sales.
V.P. Thandapani, Corporation Commissioner, told The Hindu that it would be a boost to the SHGs and the Federation of SHGs in Tiruchi, who were struggling to market their products under financial constraints in finding permanent shops.
It was expected to get good patronage among the people as it was located at the bus stand, which received thousands of passengers daily. A departmental store had been established.
Stating that it had formed a Federation of SHGs, he said 130 persons, two persons from each of 65 wards, had been enrolled as members of the federation. They would network with the SHG members.
The federation would create a complete database listing the skills of SHG members such as carpentry, masonry, electric and electronic repairs, two wheeler mechanism, floor cleaning, interior decoration, and so on.
It was aimed at generating employment for the SHG members through various sources. The immediate idea was to tap the services required by residents’ welfare associations of various apartments. They could take up works such as sanitation and mosquito control. The office-bearers of the associations would be given the contact numbers of workers attached to the SHGs and Federation, Mr. Thandapani said.
He added that the corporation had established 15 multi-purpose service centres in different parts of 65 wards. They could receive complaints from their respective areas, and pass them to officials to find solutions.
