Bangles from liquor bottles — Patna factory makes a spirited start

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had launched the Sabalpur Jeevika Chudi Nirman Kendra through video conferencing in November 2022.

It’s a fairly sunny day on February 17 at Sabalpur in Bihar’s Patna district. Sharmila Devi (28), a mother of four, is busy crushing liquor bottles since morning. The crushed stuff will be melted in a furnace and the molten material will be used to make glass bangles.

The factory at Sabalpur became operational on February 17. (HT)

At the end of the day, Sharmila will get a princely ₹220, in cash, for eight hours of work. She is content though. “It’s sufficient enough to get my children a decent dinner they have been waiting for long,” she says with a smile.

Sharmila’s husband, an alcoholic, would often beat her. Though he claims to have stopped drinking, he doesn’t earn.

The factory at Sabalpur, to make glass bangles from seized liquor bottles — there is no dearth of it in Bihar since liquor was banned in the state in April 2016 — has come as a boon for Sharmila, and other women like her.

The factory, which became operational on February 17, months after chief minister Nitish Kumar launched the Sabalpur Jeevika Chudi Nirman Kendra through video conferencing in November 2022, is run by Jeevika, a World Bank funded rural livelihood programme of Bihar’s rural development department planned in collaboration with the prohibition and excise department.

The furnace, which has the capacity to melt two tonnes of crushed liquor bottles a day, was installed over a bushy land at the heart of the village and a team of 20 bangle makers were brought to Sabalpur from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh to impart training to Jeevika women.

The unit has capacity to manufacture 70,000 to 80,000 glass bangles a day.

“It’s a historic day. This the first Chudi Nirman Kendra of the state,” Brajesh Kumar, area manager, Jeevika, said.

“We have started with nearly two dozen Jeevika Didis. Most of them are from Sabalpur panchayat. More will be engaged in the coming days,” he said.

Roshni Kumari, community coordinator, Jeevika, said more than 100 Jeevika women have got their names listed for the factory. Most of these women have been going through severe financial hardships due to alcoholism afflicting their spouses, she said.

Samir Kumar, state project manager, Jeevika, said, “Altogether 76 Jeevika women, along with 30 men, have been selected for the work. Men had to be engaged as working at furnace is not safe for women.”

He said the excise department has already supplied more than 12 tonnes of crushed liquor bottles to the factory to begin with.

Avinash Kumar, another project manager at Jeevika, said the finished bangles would be branded as Kanchi. “We have also identified markets. Many Jeevika women run shops in rural areas,” he said. Even the state capital has some dedicated bangle stockists at Chudi Guli and Maroofganj, he said.