Women across Mardan are under economic strain after about 23 TMA handicraft centres closed in the district. The Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA)—the local municipal body that ran the sites—had used them to give women vocational skills and a path to paid work near home. With the centres shut, many who depended on that work for self-employment have lost their main livelihood.
What the centres provided
The facilities were set up in different parts of Mardan so women could learn and practise sewing, embroidery and related crafts. For participants, including those who observe purdah, the centres offered a way to earn within their own localities rather than travel far for paid work. Their closure has therefore hit both household income and the district’s small-scale handicraft activity.
Sources say the shutdown happened for various reasons, without a public breakdown of each case. That gap is why social and business voices are asking officials to establish what went wrong and reverse it.
Pressure to reopen the sites
Ayesha Durrani, the newly elected president of the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) Mardan—a body that represents women in business—raised the matter with officials of the Mardan Municipal Committee. She urged them to revive the closed centres so women can again earn a respectable income close to home.
She argued that marketing the goods women produce could help them become economically self-reliant. According to her account of the meeting, the relevant TMA authorities assured her that prompt measures would be taken so the centres can reopen and women can return to work.
What civic groups want next
Representatives from civic and social circles have separately called on the Commissioner Mardan, the Deputy Commissioner and municipal authorities to examine why the 23 centres were closed and to bring them back into operation without delay. They say reopening would restore jobs for women and support the local handicraft trade.
Whether those assurances turn into working centres again is the next test for the district and municipal administration. For now, the closure of TMA centres in Mardan remains a live livelihoods issue for the women who used them.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Mardan mein lag bhag 23 TMA handicraft centres band ho gaye hain. In jagahon par auratein silai, karhai aur dusre hunar ka kaam karti thin. Ab un ki kamai ka zariya ruk gaya hai. Chamber ki sadar aur logon ne administration se centres jaldi dobara kholne ki darkhwast ki hai.
