‘Bastar’s tamarind is sweet’: Amit Shah samples local produce at new tribal service hub

Raipur: Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday paused amid discussions on security, welfare and governance in Bastar to taste locally processed tamarind at a self-help group unit in Netanar — and declared with a smile that Bastar’s imli was “not sour, but sweet”.The moment came during Shah’s visit to the newly launched Shaheed Veer Gundadhur jan suvidha kendra.At the tamarind processing centre run by women’s self-help groups, Shah interacted with tribal women undergoing training in pulp production and asked them about their income and work process.Lambi Nag, one of the women associated with the group, told Shah that members are now expected to earn up to Rs 1 lakh annually through tamarind processing and value addition activities.Shah met another local resident Sukhdevi, who had just obtained an Aadhaar card for her five-month-old daughter Padma. She told the home minister that earlier villagers had to walk nearly 10 km to Nangur for Aadhaar-related work, but now she’s glad facilities such as new Aadhaar registration would be available inside the village itself.At another unit, Shah interacted with women at a traditional paddy-processing training centre where villagers are being trained in rice processing and related livelihood activities. Officials explained that apart from increasing income through rice sales, the rice husk generated during processing would also be used as nutritious cattle feed.