Panchayat officer launches campaign for leaf plates in Siddipet

Moduga (Bueta Monosperma) tree is abundantly seen in rural parts of the district.

Siddipet: To meet the twin goals of protecting the environment and empowering rural women financially, District Panchayat Officer (DPO) Devaki Devi has been organising awareness programmes for MGNREGS women across the district on the need to make “istarlu with moduga leaves” (leaf plates).

Moduga (Bueta Monosperma) tree is abundantly seen in rural parts of the district. Worried over the excessive use of plastic plates, glasses and others made with plastic during functions even in rural parts of the Siddipet, Devaki Devi decided to launch a movement by reaching out to rural women on the need to make the plates with Moduga leaves. During April, May and June, when the MGNREGS workers were busy at work sites, Devaki Devi and Panchayat secretaries across the district reached out to over 70,000 of these workers where they demonstrated the stitching of leaf plates.

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Since there was a good demand for the leaf plates, Devaki told Telangana Today that rural women could earn additional income which they could spend on educating their children. She also educated the women to use leaf plates at their homes during functions instead of plastic plates. She explained with examples how the plastic would remain in the soil for hundreds of years which would make the soil less fertile. She said the women were being paid Rs.5 for the plate. When she got an order for a couple of hundred of plates, Devaki informed a woman in Chinna Gundavelly village. The woman earned Rs.1,000 in less than 24 hours by supplying them. To set an example, Devaki also served food on moduga leaf plates during a woman officer’s retirement programme in the Siddipet collectorate recently.

She has called upon young women and men to set up leaf plate making units in villages so that it can benefit the women and unit owners besides helping the environment.