Social organisations and administration authorities in the city have came together to provide a sustainable livelihood option to persons from Tiruchi’s transgender community, by inaugurating a solar-powered e-seva centre and juice shop on the Collectorate premises.
The stalls were inaugurated on Tuesday by K.N. Nehru, Minister for Municipal Administration, in the presence of Collector M. Pradeep Kumar.
The ergonomic working spaces were designed and built at a cost of ₹11 lakh by Bengaluru-based non-profit venture SELCO Foundation, in collaboration with the Tiruchi District Collectorate, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), Divya Prerna Foundation, Tiruchi Agribusiness Incubation Forum (TABIF) and COROAT Trust. SELCO Foundations projects are focused on solar energy-based interventions for social uplift.
S. Amirtha, 29, who heads the transgender ‘Vasanthakaala Paravaigal’ self-help group (SHG), will be helped by her colleague M. Jessica, 31, in running the stalls.
“I have spent most of my life begging for survival. This stall has given trans persons like me an opportunity to make a fresh start,” Amirtha told The Hindu. “We had at least 20 customers walking in today, who were very thrilled with our shop,” she added.
The machines in the stalls — a photocopier, sugarcane juicer, blender-mixer, refrigerator and other electric appliances — are all powered by solar energy panels that stay on throughout the day. Amirtha and Jessica were trained by COROAT Trust in the day-to-day running of the stalls.
There are approximately 300 transgender persons in Tiruchi; around 65 from the community have been shortlisted for future sustainable livelihood projects by SELCO.
“We have been working with unelectrified villages in Tamil Nadu from 2011; as of now, we have created 13 model projects with solar energy in the State. This is among our first forays into a city-based project, to support transgender people in Tiruchi,” said S. Nambirajan, senior manager, public relations and outreach, SELCO India. “Transpersons have been ostracised by their families, so it is important to give them hope, and a basis for a productive livelihood away from commercial sex work and begging,” he added.
