Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has asked the officials to focus on marking of products manufactured in rural industrial parks of State.

Baghel held a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House in State Capital and reviewed the work being done to develop Gauthans in Mahatma Gandhi Rural Industrial Park, Godhan Nyay Yojana, C-Mart and Chief Minister Silk Mission.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister said that special attention is required on quality, reasonable price and marketing of the products so that the sales of the products increase in order to get a good market for the products being manufactured in the rural industrial parks located at the Gauthans of State. Self-help groups should get maximum benefit of it, he added.

Chief Minister further said that it has been directed to prepare the products which can be consumed locally according to the need of the village residents. He also instructed to use social media platforms like Amazon, Flipkart for branding and sale of finished products in Gauthans. He said that arrangements should also be made to provide training to the

people involved in various income-oriented activities in Gauthans. It was informed in the meeting that 12,176 self-help groups are working in Gauthans, in which 83,874 women are members. These groups have so far received an income of about Rs 65.18 crore from various activities. Self-help groups are doing vermin-compost production, community gardening, mushroom production, poultry, fish farming, goat rearing as well as making lamps, pots, incense sticks from cow dung. Along with this, activities like manufacturing of sanitary pads , bags manufacturing, fencing poles, LED bulbs, paper blocks are also being conducted in Gauthans. At present, 79 oil mills, 177 pulse mills, 364 flour mills, 939 mini rice mills have been established in Gauthan. At least two Gauthans have been selected in each block of the district for development of Rural Industrial Park. It was informed in the meeting that unemployed youth, interested men-women and entrepreneurs of third gender are eligible to conduct various activities along with selfhelp groups in Gothans under Rural Industrial Park. The goods produced in Rural Industrial Park are being sold in local Haat Bazar, C-Mart, Shabri Emporium, Sanjeevani Kendra, wholesalers, private companies and government offices. During the review of Godhan Nyay Yojana, the Chief Minister directed to provide machines for filtering vermin-compost in all Gauthans. He said that the dairy industry has benefited from the Godhan Nyay Yojana. He further said that farmers are using vermin-compost regularly and its demand will increase in the future, so maximum production of vermin-compost should be done. Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey said that about 19 lakh quintals of vermin-compost has been prepared in Gauthans, which is being sold to the farmers. At present about 3 lakh quintals of vermin-compost is left. It was informed in the meeting that out of 1300 Gauthans, procurement has started in 619 Gauthans, about 82,000 quintals of cow dung has been procured, dung procurement will start soon in 159 Gauthans. During the Silk Mission review, the Chief Minister said that a large number of local people can be provided with a means of income and employment in the collection and thread making process of natural cocoons in Bastar. It was informed in the meeting that Cocoon Bank has been established by the Forest Department at Nangoor in Bastar district. Natural rally cocoons are being purchased by the Forest Department from the local people at support price. 740 beneficiaries have been given training in making yarn. They will also be given threading machines. The project to set up a modern wet reeling unit at Nangoor at a cost of Rs 5.70 crore has been sent to the Central Silk Board for approval. The rally cocoons are collected from March 1 to April 30 and August 1 to October 15. It was also informed in the meeting that till July 11, garments worth Rs 4.90 lakh has been sold In this premium shop. Tussar silk and cotton sarees, stoles, dress material, home furnishing items and readymade handloom garments prepared by weavers of Chhattisgarh are being displayed and sold. Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar, Public Health and Engineering Department Minister Guru Rudra Kumar, Higher Education Department Minister Umesh Patel, Advisor to Chief Minister Pradeep Sharma, Chairman of State Mineral Development Corporation Girish Dewangan, Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain, Additional Chief Secretary Subrat Sahoo and other officers attended the meeting.