Patna: Women and men's wear like saree, salwar suits, scarfs, lehenga, jeans and tracksuit is now being exported to countries like Qatar, Dubai, Malaysia and Indonesia from the remote West Champaran district of Bihar. The garments are being made by the people of the district who once worked in distant cities like Mumbai or Ahmadabad as migrant laborers and had returned home following the lockdown. If the people of the district are now earning a decent living from their homes, the credit goes to the District Magistrate Kundan Kumar.

DM Kundan Kumar’s heroic initiative for common people’s aspiration defines everything. Those who were working as manual laborers are now owners of the plants. The corona pandemic had left many hungry for days, many lost their jobs and their future looked bleak and uncertain. It was not easy to make so many people self-reliant by connecting them with any livelihood programme during the pandemic, but West Champaran DM Kundan Kumar has not just provided land to set up units in the zone but also facilitated easy loans.

Amidst an atmosphere filled with panic and fear, district magistrate Kundan Kumar took an initiative and the positive results are visible now. The District Administration started profiling and mapping the skill sets of about 80,000 migrant workers returning to the city during the nationwide lockdown. DM Kundan Kumar confirms it. He says: "A majority of migrant workers were unskilled and specialized ones comprised of small chunk of the workforce. Other migrant workers worked as tailors, painters, carpenters, electricians, plumber’s et al."

"Those who are engaged in the zone are mostly skilled and semi skilled lot from textile and apparel, woodcraft, leather and footwear areas. We roped in laborers by forming ‘Udyami Mitr Mandal’ and attached them with the zone," he adds. The District Administration has deputed a senior officer to work as a facilitator and look into the grievances of each businessman. The officer visits the startup zone regularly and interacts with the local businessmen.\

According to Kundan Kumar, ‘in 20 acres of land area of bazar samiti startups has already started. In 350 acres of land of Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority, further development is being done on plug and play model. V2 brand has confirmed to establish its unit in the zone. In total, there are 57 functional startups in the zone and around 100 units outside the zone area employing around 1000 laborers.

The Chanpatia startup zone has now forayed into the global market as it is receiving orders from Qatar, Dubai, Malaysia and Indonesia for the export of dresses like saree, salwar suits and lehenga. DM Kundan Kumar has been honoured with the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in public Administration, 2021 for the initiative ‘Navpravartan Startup Zone, Chanpatia’ in the category of ‘Innovation District’. 
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has lauded the initiative of the West Champaran district administration for providing support to the migrant workers for launching startups. He had also asked officials of other districts to adopt the Chanpatia model. Seven Pradhan Mantri Mitra Parks are to be established across the country. Seeing the success of the startup model of the West Champaran district, the Bihar government has sent a proposal to the Central government for establishing one park in the district.