VELLORE: The Arunthathi Makkal Katchi (AMK) has come up with a win-win proposition for the State Government that aims to provide a new lease of life for the ‘Arunthathi’ or traditional cobblers’ community while at the same time fulfilling the footwear needs of government schoolchildren. The party has appealed to the Jayalalithaa Government, which announced free footwear scheme for schoolchildren, to replace the synthetic Velcro sandal being contemplated by the government with the leather sandal. Besides being a more environmentally friendly option, the making of leather sandals will enable upto 2 lakh cobblers, make a living.Referring to the tender notice issued by the Directorate of School Education, Walasai Ravichandran, Founder President of the AMK, pointed out that the State has proposed to purchase around 81 lakh pairs of Velcro sandals. The government intends to spend ` 94 crore to distribute the sandals free of cost to students from class I to class X. The tenders close by March 20, 2012. “At a time when over 2 lakh cobblers from the Arunthathi community in Tamil Nadu struggle with unemployment, the state government’s move to purchase Velcro sandals will help only major footwear manufacturers,” stated Ravichandran. “Over 100 cobblers’ cooperative societies that flourished in the state have become defunct in the past decade as they were unable to compete with industrialisation. A slight modification in the free footwear scheme would greatly benefit these cooperatives and in turn benefit the cobblers,” he added.He pointed out that the state-owned Khadi craft leather unit in Chennai, which produced shoes for the police department and cash bags for bus conductors, engaged craftsmen from North India while it could make use of the workforce available in the state. According to him, the Arunthathiar Welfare Board can be revived and the free footwear project can be implemented through this board, in conjunction with the Tamil Nadu Leather Workers Welfare Board.Ravichandran explained that while cobblers used to make a living by supplying special leather bags used in the process of irrigation, the use of electric pump sets had made the bags obsolete. The setting up of huge factories to mass produce footwear and other leather accessories has also caused several in the community to be unemployed. He also added that it would be nice if the Jayalalithaa Government, which has been launching various welfare measures, took this opportunity to help both the cobbler community and the student community.of the free footwear scheme.” This, he assured, will help lakhs of cobblers.
Comments
0 comment