OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power utility, has always endeavoured to improve the quality of life of the communities in and around its project areas. In continuation with this philosophy, Tata Power’s Naraj Marthapur project team organised a special training programme on the manufacturing of agarbati for women from Naraj Marthapur village.

The training programme continued for eight days, which included two hours of training per day. Around 35 women and girls from Naraj Marthapur participated in the training. The objective of this programme was to provide a platform for the women and girls of the village to earn a livelihood. The programme was interactive and related to backward and forward linkage of agarbatti manufacturing and its operations.

The aim of the programme is to provide the women with earning opportunities by which they may provide financial support to their families in the long run. A special buy back arrangement of the product is also made with ITC.

Speaking on the initiative, Purushottam Thakur, head, Odisha Projects, said, “Tata Power is committed to sustainable development of the local communities in and around its project areas. As per our philosophy, we jointly work with the community, government agencies, local NGOs and opinion makers to help improve the standard of living of the people living around our operations. We will continue organising such initiatives focusing on livelihoods for communities.”

Initially, for the first three months all trainees will undergo hand holding and quality specification training of the product by manual method, post which semi-automatic and automatic machines will be provided to them at production centre.