Bhubaneswar: The SHGs under Mission Shakti are doing wonderful work in managing the Aahar centres in the state. The Housing and Urban Development department has partnered with Mission Shakti to run 167 Aahar centres through women self-help groups (WSHGs) and since November 2020 the women Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Odisha have provided more meals to the needy and helpless people during the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, officials said.
As a part of the effort to provide food security to the helpless people, more than 2000 members of 157 SHGs are providing food at 167 Aahar centres in the state. According to sources, the members of women Self Help Groups (SHG) in Odisha have provided more than 1.5 crore meals to the needy and helpless people during the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The state government had provided Rs 1.15 crore to the 157 SHGs for the running this Aahar centre, official sources said.
Aahar is a food programme run by the state government and aims at providing cooked hot meals-steamed rice and dalma-to people at an affordable cost of Rs 5/- at places of public congregation in urban areas. Mission Shakti Women SHGs are engaged in managing the Aahar programme in many districts of the state including capital city Bhubaneswar.
After looking at their success in running the Aahar centres, the Housing and Urban Development department has also roped in SHGs to run the three ‘Shelter for Urban Homeless’ (SUHs). Presently they were given the job of managing the SUH in Balasore, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts.
Apart from this, Mission Shakti has also taken up a training programme of SHGs on commercial vegetable production including mushroom cultivation in partnership with Directorate of Horticulture. Currently, 3000 groups are involved in mushroom cultivation, leading to a production of around 2500 tonnes and an impressive annual turnover of Rs 35.34 cr.
Mission Shakti Self Help Groups have been entrusted with the role of site supervisors for creation of farm ponds. As site supervisors, group members mobilise job card holders to enhance participation and to increase man-days. As of now, 12321 groups are engaged as site supervisors on worksites and have created 64 lakh man-days, with accrued supervision charges of Rs 5.2 cr.
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