KOZHIKODE: The Sparsham project, launched by the state government with much fanfare at the strife-torn Marad to provide employment to women affected in the massacre, is edging towards a grinding halt as all projects except one have already been closed down.
The villain is the salty sea winds that resulted in rusting of the machinery and the failure of authorities to transplant the project away from the sea coast. The project for Sustainable Poverty Alleviation and Reformation of the Sea-belt area of Marad (Sparsam), launched in 2010 was aimed at generating employment for the women cutting across communal lines to work together and eke out a living.
Initially, there were units for book binding, scrapping, soap making, candle manufacturing and a stitching unit for VKC footwear, catering to 250 odd women from the coastal region.
All other units have already been scrapped and the footwear stitching unit with only 24 women is struggling to push on. One of the employees M. Savitha told DC that all of them have been demanding the authorities to shift the unit away from the coastline.
“Our fans have almost rusted out and machines are facing recurring repair works,” she said and added that in the beginning there were 21 stitching machines that were reduced to 14 now. We are getting around '350 per day. But the maintenance cost of stitching machines is increasing due to the salty winds,” she pointed out.
Mayor VKC Mammadkoya told DC that it was lack of funds that resulted in the translocation of the project. Efforts were on to move the project to some other spot.
The projects proved a success in creating unity among the women victims of Marad where 14 persons were killed in two separate incidents in 2002 and 2003. Hundreds of men were arrested and imprisoned for years in connection with the massacre. Though there was a move to revive the units by the UDF ministry in 2014, it proved futile.
