Brahmaputra Fables, an Assam start-up supplying handloom and handicraft products to customers around the globe, has started an initiative to supply cloth masks to protect against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The start-up, incubated at Assam Startup-The Nest in the first cohort batch, stepped in to fill the gap in the supply of the much in-demand protective masks in view of the Covid-19 pandemic that has, till now, affected 34 persons in the state.

Brahmaputra Fables put up a video online instructing how to make cloth masks at home with readily available materials like cotton cloth, after it received the guidelines on cloth masks from the Centre for Disease Control, a US-based organisation, on April 3.

“Shortly after receiving the guidelines on making the triple-layered cloth masks, we uploaded an instructional video and engaged our suppliers and anyone willing to make and supply such masks from April 8. There is a huge demand for cloth masks as the N-95 masks are not fully available. We connected buyers and sellers who started supplying the masks in their respective towns. We have people in Barpeta Road, Gohpur, Biswanath Chariali, Bongaigaon as well as in Guwahati who are engaged in making such masks. We are not taking any profit from sale of the masks,” the co-founder of the company, Dhrubajyoti Deka, told The Telegraph over phone.

The team of Deka, Bhaskarjyoti Deka and Kaushik Mahanta are currently managing the supply of such masks.

From 80 to 90 in the initial days, the company sold around 300 masks on April 14.

The starting price of a cloth mask is Rs 25.

For Bihu, masks made from gamosas were in huge demand.

It is a tradition in Assam to gift gamosas on Bihu and masks made from them are a fashion statement, while providing protection from coronavirus.

The company is now taking orders and will start shipping the masks, in figures running to thousands, when courier services resume.