Bamboo chairs produced by inmates fail to get market

By Amrit Prasad Paudel,Myagdi, Nov. 4: Inmates of the District Prison in Myagdi were in distress after they failed to find market for their bamboo stools (Mudha).

The inmates of the district jail at Khabara in Beni Municipality-2 have been making the stools using locally available bamboo. 

Jail warden Basanta Roka said that it was getting difficult to find the market for the materials produced by them. 

Even though he had completed his sentence in a robbery case, Roka was unable to pay the fine and was spending additional time in prison. 

The prison used to produce 80 bamboo stools a day in the past, but because of the lack of market, the inmates are now preparing only 30 stools a day.  

"Customers tend to buy the stools at a cheap rate when we told them that the stools were produced by the inmates," said Roka. 

Now 82 males and three females are doing their days in the prison though it can accommodate only 32 inmates.

Based on the quality of the stools produced in the prison, the unpainted ones are sold from Rs. 350 to Rs. 450 per piece while the coloured ones cost Rs. 400 to Rs. 500.  

Meanwhile, Maya BK of Pokhara, who used to sell the stools produced by the prisoners had not come in contact with the prison office although she had to pay Rs. 121,000 to the inmates. A few other dealers had also sold the stools on behalf of the inmates, but they had also not provided the money to the inmates.