Trangenders get trained to make slippers

Berhampur: To provide alternative livelihood opportunities to transgenders, the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) on Wednesday launched a two-month-long training programme for them in making slippers.

As many as 26 transgender people belonging to three self-help groups (SHGs) took part in the programme being conducted by three experts from a reputed shoe manufacturing company in Kolkata.

“They will be trained to make slippers as well as market them,” BeMC commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore said.

The government will bear the entire training cost under Odisha Urban Livelihood Mission, he said, adding, while Rs 1.76 lakh will be spent on training, each participant would be provided Rs 100 a day as stipend. Each SHG would also be provided with Rs 50,000 seed money by the government to start the business, he said. The amount will help them buy the equipment to make the slippers. Sweety Sahu, president of Sakhi, an organisation of transgenders here, said, “The progrmme is like a ray of hope for us. The training will help us become self-employed,” Sahu said.

Berhampur has around 200 transgnder people. Most of them make a livelihood by dancing at family functions, fairs and festivals or run beauty parlours. “We don’t dance and sing everyday in functions. Besides, it does not help us get the desired amount of money to run our household. We will earn more by making and marketing slippers,” Lovely, one of the 26 participants, said. “It will help us lead a life of dignity,” However, another transgender Preety said she would continue to dance at family functions and run a parlour. The transgenders said they in turn will train other members of their community. The civic body has also decided to build a three-storied hostel for transgenders. While the ground floor will house different shops to be managed by the transgenders, the first and second floors will be dormitories in which around 100 transgenders would be accommodated, said the commissioner.


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