Dasari helps women generate income by recycling plastic and creating eco-friendly alternatives

HYDERABAD: Madam’s idea to generate wealth out of waste struck the right chord with A Mamatha, a woman self-help group ( SHG ) member, whose income has almost quadrupled. Mamatha was a daily wager before.

“I hardly used to make ends meet when I was a daily labourer. But now, I earn close to Rs 12,000 by selling jute bags thanks to madam’s initiative,” she gushes. The madam she is referring to is Hari Chandana Dasari, zonal commissioner, Serilingampally, GHMC, who was the brainchild behind the initiative to empower women . “When I saw the Jawaharnagar dumpyard for the first time, I had realised that if waste is recycled at the source level, transportation, pollution and related expenditure can be avoided,” says the 2010 batch IAS officer .

Dasari believes in the recycling movement. “A lot of things can be made out of recycled plastic like road medians, roofing sheets, furniture and interiors,” says Dasari. She gave a platform to 695 women from SHGs. While 195 women are stitching cloth bags and selling them, 400 women from slums are preparing jute bags and five groups consisting of 20 women each have set up cutlery banks. Students from education institutions collected old clothes and gave it to GHMC officials who, in turn, handed them over to these SHG women.

There are also three cutlery banks and women lease out cutlery at a cheap price compared to market rate.“The aim behind my initiatives is to crub plastic usage and also provide a platform for women to earn. Women in MA Nagar, Stalin Nagar and other slums in Miyapur are also spreading the word about adverse effects of plastic usage,” Dasari says.

Dasari left her job with top organisations like World Bank and BP Shell since she wanted to bring about a change in people’s lives. She says the ability to take initiative and drive people’s aspirations is what sets the civil services apart from other jobs.

Dasari made sure that companies, as part of CSR, pitched in and donated Rs 60 crore to GHMC’s kitty. The first-ever dog park in the city was also her brainchild. “Sanitary napkin vending machines, painting of slums, communtiy refrigerators are next on the list,” the IAS officer, who studied environmental economics and global policy from the London School of Economics, replies.

