Tamil Nadu - Others   

Self-help groups take on lease stone quarries

M. Balaganessin

Ensuring assured income for 1,000 women in Pudukottai district A building to conduct meetings will be built at Nattam Pannai in appreciation of their success

A HARD GRIND: Women working at the Kunnavayal stone quarry in Pudukottai district. — Photo: R. Ashok

PUDUKOTTAI: Stone quarries have become a source of assured income for about 1,000 women members of 50 self-help groups in Pudukottai district.

Each group, comprising about 20 members, has taken on lease a quarry for a period of five years, by depositing the lease amount from out of their savings. The quarries are located at the Annavasal, Viralimalai, Kunnadarkoil, Tirumayam and Ponnamaravathy blocks.

These women possessed the required skill in the trade even before floating the self-help groups, as they had worked, albeit in unorganised form, in private stone quarries for decades. "The private managers exploited us and we were poorly paid. We were even uncertain as to when we would get our weekly wages, as the payment was made according to their whims and fancies," said S. Jyothi, Animator of the Cauvery Amman SHG.

Her group has taken on lease 22 cents of stone quarry at Nattam Pannai village near the town after depositing the lease amount Rs. 73,000 for a period of five years. The economic uplift was the outcome of coordinated efforts by different government agencies.

While the Pudukottai Central Cooperative Bank sanctioned a loan of Rs. 1.57 lakh, the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation released an equal sum towards subsidy. Apart from ensuring tie-ups with various panchayat unions and Highways Department for road repair works, the District Society and Marketing Services (DSMS) supplied a tipper lorry for the transport of stone gravel from the quarry to the work site.

"Started repaying"

"We have not only been earning profit, but also started repaying the loan we got in March this year," says Ms. Jyothi.

"On an average, each SHG has been earning a monthly profit of Rs. 9,000 which is shared by the members," says the Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency, A. Natarajan.

The secretary of the DSMS, S. Sathyaseelan, said a building to be utilised for conducting meetings would be constructed at Nattam Pannai in appreciation of their success. The Director of Rural Development, J. Radhakrishnan, who inspected the quarry, urged the officials to lay a road in the area.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Self-help groups take on lease stone quarries
A `rural force' trained in rescue act
An exercise to the tune of Tirukkural
Endoscopic neurosurgery workshop concludes

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu