New Delhi:
Edible colours handmade by women inmates of the Tihar Jail are set to be sold in different parts of Delhi.
A group of 20 woman inmates at Tihar's Jail no 6 are using herbal raw materials like flowers to make dry colours (gulal) which will be sold at specified centres in the capital.
"We have used arrowroot powder and flower petals alongwith food grade colour and natural fragrances to make colours that are purely skin friendly and even eatable," says Vishalanand, spokesperson Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan (DJJS), an NGO which has been working with inmates for over 15 years.
To make a quick buck some manufacturers are seen to adulterate the colours with diesel, chromium iodine, engine oil, copper sulphate, and glass powder (to add sheen), which is known to cause nausea, headache, breathlessness among other ailments, say medical experts.