Families in UP repair defective slippers for their livelihood

Chandausi (UP), Aug 29 : Many families in Chandausi town in Uttar Pradesh are engaged in repairing defective slippers from various places as far as Delhi, and then selling the redone footwear that look almost new.

And in the process, these families are earning a decent livelihood. These workers collect the waste slippers from factories and take it to Chandausi.

They remove the old straps and fix new ones, which makes the new slippers more comfortable and nice to look at. If the soles are not proper, they even resole the pairs.

Also, the slippers are given a new shine and the entire process helps them earn around Rupees 2-3 per pair of slipper.

Many unemployed men have taken up this vocation to earn their daily bread. Thus the street, which until the other day was a cluster of slums, now has a row of houses where the workers are busy in reinventing the discarded footwear.

"We sell them at a profit of Rupees 2-3 per pair and one pair of slipper costs us Rupees 18-20," said Raghu, a worker, Moradabad.

The workers believe that the Government does not help them in anyway to promote this venture of converting waste to wealth. The whole family is generally involved in this slipper making process.

"We sell these slippers in the market and also go house-to-house selling them. Instead of roaming here and there, we prefer helping our husbands making these slippers," said Vimla, a housewife, Moradabad.

These slippers are sold to both wholesale and retail merchants of Moradabad as well as outside the District at places like Delhi, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Mumbai and even Bangalore.By Vibhav Porov

ANI