Damak,February 16:

The number of Dhaka cloth item entrepreneurs is increasing here and factories are flourishing. The entrepreneurs hardly manage to meet the demand of their customers. Entrepreneur Mitra Kumari Angthup said, “I have a very busy schedule. If I don’t start my day before 6 am, I cannot complete my work.” She said that she is getting a good income from

this profession, adding “So, I need to manage time anyhow.”

Another entrepreneur, Rashmi Rai, also has the same working schedule. She said that she is in the profession since fourteen years. “This profession has brought me up to this condition.”

She has a Dhaka cloth factory in Damak Municipality-1. Many other people have started emulating these entrepreneurs. Several women in the villages have started small-scaled industries of dhaka cloth items in their homes and the production of dhaka cloth items has become their main profession. Such mini-industries have been established in Falgunanda Chowk,Sangam Chowk and Kharkhare of Damak-1. Entrepreneur Nirmaya Pulami won the nation’s first prize for best small-scale entrepreneur this year. Other entrepreneurs have been inspired by her.

Many women have got job in these industries. Employee Asmati Karki said, “We get Rs 4000 to 5000 per month, and we can earn more if we work more.” The cloth produced here is sent to Itahari, Dharan, and Birtamod, Kathmandu, Pokhara and foreign countries as well.

Entrepreneur Angthup said that the government should provide loans to promote this sector. “This is the best industry which can be run easily from home,” she said.

Entrepreneurs claimed that about five hundred women are running such industries in Damak alone, employing more than two thousand people. These industries have transaction up to Rs five lakh per month. Caps, saris, coats, ties, bags and many other decorative materials made of Dhaka cloth produced here are famous in the market.

Acting chairman of the Damak chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries Indra Shrestha said that the government had done nothing to promote cottage industries, adding “The Dhaka cloth item industry will definitely flourish if we provide the necessary assistance to this sector.”