Baidyapur

BAIDYAPUR
Nearest rail station: Boichi
Year of establishment: 1995
Centre in charge: Sri Lakshmikanta Ghosh
Local partner: Bratachari Kendriya Nayak Mandali
Overseas partners: Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft (till 2004)
Canada India Village Aid (from 2005)
Courses: Mushroom Cultivation; Repair of TV sets, Cassette Players and Radios; Poultry; Catfish Rearing; Machine Knitting; Tailoring and Sewing; Quail Farming; Two-Wheeler Repair and Maintenance; Machine Embroidery; Electrician Trainig

Situated on the border of Bardhaman district with Hooghly, Baidyapur is reached by a short train journey to Boichi, followed by a rather arduous trip by bus or auto to our project site. The area's main crops are potatoes and rice. Near our project site there is to be seen a quite splendid wooden rath, seen below, which now has a tin covering that it badly needed and is no longer to be seen as in the photograph. During the Chariot festival in the monsoon season it is uncovered and dragged a little way and then back as part of the festivities.


Baidyapur currently has our only functioning rooftop poultry, for which space has been donated by our local project partner. The poultry at Kalanabagram has become derelict since we suspended operations there, while the one at Rampurhat is too close to the main rail line. At Baidyapur we are at present raising quails for the table in our poultry. this promises to be an exciting new area of enterprise for local people. We also have here our Catfish Rearing Tank, situated in the courtyard of the house of our Centre-in-charge's brother, who very kindly gave us space to construct it and access to water.

A local notable involved in FERRY work is Mr Benukar Mitra, a retired headmaster who has kindly let us use part of the school premises as our office. Mrs Rita Nandi also works actively for FERRY, co-ordinating our Machine Knitting and Tailoring and Sewing courses, which are regular features. Baidyapur is also the only major project site where we receive support for infrastructural expenses, from our overseas partner, the DIG of Germany. Another institution that has helped us here is the George Telegraph Institute of Calcutta, which gave unstinted assistance in creating and implementing the extremely successful course in Repair of TVs, Radios and Cassette Players held here in 2000. In November 2000 we also ran a Tailoring and Sewing Course for hearing impaired students; the trainer for this course was Sri Rajesh Nandi.

The Quail Farming course is running at present.There is an appreciable local demand for quails' eggs and meat, which our trainees should be able to take advantage of. The first Advanced Tailoring and Machine Embroidery course was held in February 2002 for those who wished to enhance their machine-sewing and garment-cutting skills. The trainers were Sri Rajesh Nandi and Sheikh Hasnat Ali. A course in Repair and Maintenance of Two Wheelers began here at the same time under Sri Ratan Ghosh.