The pride of Assam, gamosa, the traditional towel or scarf made of cotton, has come to the rescue of the population.

With the trend of using protective masks to check the spread of coronavirus growing, Phanindra Pradhan, 37, a fine arts student from Assam’s Gohpur has come with a unique and affordable mask made of gamosa.

Pradhan’s initiative has been much appreciated and purchase orders for more such masks are reaching him from across the state.

“Though protective masks are available in cities and urban areas, the scene is different in remote areas. Here masks are either unavailable or sold at higher prices, making it difficult for rural people to afford them. Therefore, I decided to do an experiment to make a mask with gamosa. I immediately started getting orders after my friends saw the masks,” said Pradhan who hails from Dathloka village of Gohpur in Biswanath district, nearly 290km from here.

Pradhan, who usually does tailoring and stitches traditional Nepali attire with his wife Sangeeta, has been working round-the-clock to meet the supplies.

Since Sunday, he received an order of 500 such masks.

“We are not compromising with the quality and trying to medicate them. We wash the gamosas in antiseptic disinfectant liquid before ironing and stitching them into masks. We are selling each for Rs 50,” he told The Telegraph.

Besides the local markets from Gohpur, Pradhan has also received orders from Bokakhat, Tezpur and even Dispur.

To meet the rising demand, he has got six persons to assist him.

“One can easily wash these masks and use them several times, unlike the surgical ones. They are affordable too,” Pradhan added.

On Monday, Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said since protective masks and hand sanitisers were already declared “essential commodities”, the state government has taken necessary steps to make these products available at right price and in good quality.

The Centre on Friday brought masks and hand sanitisers under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, taking note of the fact that masks (2ply and 3ply surgical masks and N95 masks) and hand sanitisers are not easily available and vendors are charging exorbitant prices for them.

Under the Act, the state can ask manufacturers to enhance their production capacity so that these products are widely available to consumers.