Port Blair, July 11: With the support of the Directorate of Science & Technology, KVIC, Mumbai, the A&N Islands Khadi and Village Industries Board has successfully installed 10 spindle solar powered charkhas and semi-automatic solar looms in the District Jail, Prothrapur, Port Blair. This has been implemented under the field trials/dissemination/demonstration of 10 spindle solar charkha and solar looms technology of KVIC, Mumbai.

An inaugural function was organized by the ANI KVIB in the District Jail premises in the presence of Shri Vikram Singh, Superintendent, District Jail and Shri Abhishek Bhukal, Director of Industries & Member Secretary, ANIKVIB. The programme was attended by 286 prisoners who were motivated to get themselves trained with the solar charkhas and looms which could help them in earning their livelihood at a later stage on being released.

For the successful implementation of this project, officials and technical staff from M/s Gajanan Naik Multi-Disciplinary Training Centre, Dahanu, Maharshtra were present and they installed the charkhas, looms and provided training to the inmates. A live demonstration of the solar charkhas and looms were made by the inmates along with display of the Khadi cloth and garments produced by them during the training.

In his address, the Superintendent, District Jail motivated the inmates to work in the solar charkhas and looms thereby increasing the production in order to meet the demands for supply in Govt. Departments with finished products such as bed sheets, towels, curtains etc. He expressed keen interest in registration under Khadi Certification for marketing in the national level.

The Member Secretary, ANIKVIB has assured full support from the KVIB for purchase of any special accessories for bringing versatility in the finished products with fine tuning. He further appealed to provide to them through Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan.