A few years ago, Ramesh Bhandari, 45, of Bheri municipality-12, Jajarkot, who was serving a prison sentence on the charges of embezzlement, was weaving khurukhuru mudha.

When other friends are busy gossiping, his attention is not there. While weaving the khurukhuru, he prepared a mudha in a period of almost three hours. He earns 300 per day by preparing up to two mudha in a day.  He has been earning 6 to 8 thousand per month by weaving mudha.

Similarly, Yakraj Vick of Sharada Municipality-1, who was serving a prison sentence for rape, was also weaving mudha from bamboo material. He earned 450 rupees by weaving up to three wraps in one day from the material he had prepared earlier. He has been serving the sentence since three years ago and now he has got a job inside the prison.

Not only these two, but also the prisoners who are serving sentences for various charges in the district jail Salyan have been collecting cases and other expenses. In the past, they used to collect money from home for lawsuits and other expenses, after their woven cloths started selling in the bazaar, they have been raising lawsuits and other expenses with the money earned from it.

Prisoners who are earning between 5 to 8 thousand per month not only fight cases with the money they earn from knitting, but also buy the necessary materials they need and some of them even send expenses to their homes through visiting relatives.

In the case of vehicular manslaughter, Sudeep Khan of Sharda Municipality-2 has been selling a bag made by him for 500 rupees for three years and he saved 150 rupees by deducting all expenses from it. He informed that since he started weaving mudha, he has become self-sufficient and it is easy to fight the case with the money earned from it. 

If the raw material required for weaving mudha was available in time, up to three mudha could be woven in a day. You have to rely on the janitor for the necessary materials. The goods do not arrive on the same day as requested. If goods were available quickly, we could have earned more, he said. He says that after he started weaving mudha, it became easier to spend time and he was able to eat what he liked.

Chowkidar Parashuram Khatri said that there are 140 prisoners in the prison, 15 people regularly and others have been weaving rags. Not only mudha but prisoners have also been knitting hats, sweaters and handkerchiefs. 

'Two months ago, the Nepalese army in Simkharch demanded 150 mudha. Prisoners have already made a hundred of them and delivered them. Others are making a fuss. In this way, if there is more demand from the outside, they can not only be self-sufficient, but also earn good income, he said. 

He says that prisoners are selling the woven wraps to relatives who come to visit them, who come to inspect the prison and others. Bhim Bahadur Gharti, Jailer of District Jail Salyan, said that in the past, prisoners who depended on their families to buy necessary materials and to fight cases became self-sufficient by making and selling materials such as Mudha and fulfilling their needs with the money earned from it.