Power Women
Last year, the Uttaranchal Power Corporation signed up 400 rural women to handle the billing of electricity meters. Revenues have increased, and the company CMD is a happy man: “I am absolutely delighted. We had not planned to engage women in repair and maintenance. But they are so good that nobody can stop them from spreading their wings.”
The idea of employing rural women flashed during a “frustrating and tiring” trip to Uttarkashi a year ago, he said. “We had gone to inaugurate a 33 KV substation. The gram panchayat head kept grumbling — ‘we never got our electricity bills, the line faults are never repaired and the local electrician is forever drunk.’”Just then, the electrician sauntered in, Verma recounted, and true to complaints, he was totally sloshed in the afternoon.
“That is the problem with men. They are addicted to alcohol, never respond to complaints. We were not getting any payments, the bills were not being delivered… In short, both the department and the consumers were unhappy.” Hassled and at his wit’s end, Verma toyed with possible solutions on his way back.
That was when the idea struck. The first woman who signed up was a widow, Razia Begum, who was trained to read meters and distribute bills at Rs 6 per connection. When she made Rs 2,000 in two months — enough to feed her family — word spread and the women came flocking.
“Learning to read meters was not a problem. I could do it very efficiently in just three days,” said Pushpa Chauhan, a meter reader from Uttarkashi.
great story, uma.
Comment by kuffir — December 6, 2006 @ 8:00 am
Oh, I love this story Uma. A multinational company I once worked for figured out that women were more company-loyal and so actually preferred to recruit women! Looks like some more enlightened employers are waking up to the fact that women may actually make good employees (in some cases, better than men!).
n!
Comment by neela — December 6, 2006 @ 2:14 pm
Great post! Just shows that women are capable of doing anything, they just need a lil’ nudge in the right direction…
Comment by perspective inc — December 6, 2006 @ 5:54 pm
Just like BMTC and KSRTC women conductors I guess.
Comment by SloganMurugan — December 7, 2006 @ 3:46 am
Women Power !!! Way to go !!!
Comment by Jay Sun — December 9, 2006 @ 5:42 am
Women Power !!! Way to go !!!
Comment by Jay Sun — December 9, 2006 @ 5:43 am
I’d like to feature this in the next Carnival of Feminists (tomorrow!).
Comment by Sandy D. — December 19, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
For 1st time I come across ur blog..n wat infatuated me was this post titled ‘Power Women’ ..kool one…But, I wanna ask u ..dont u think that women worked better than those alcholic or non-alcholic guys in general also..?
n it feels gr8 tat rural women are at least aware of this electricity term;)
Comment by vijeta — December 29, 2006 @ 7:49 am