MONALISA PATSANI, OP
Bhubaneswar, August 2: Ironically, women’s empowerment being the rallying cry, the achievements of women’s self help groups (SHG) have never been properly highlighted. One of the best examples is the SHG from Nayagarh that proved that if women are given proper opportunity they can achieve anything. Around 300 women of 133 SHGs
are engaged by CESU and Feedback Energy Distribution Company (FEDCO) for billing and collection of electricity bills from villages under 159 Gram Panchayats. These women, who were earlier engaged only for bill collection, are now apt in handling the machine used for billing. Nayagarh is the only district in the country where women are engaged in this job, and the locals now address them as Bijli didi.
Sanjugta Das Gupta (50) of Maa Tarani Self Help Group from Daspola started this work in 2009. At the time she started, she used to handle around 300 consumers, but today she handles around 800 consumers. “Earlier we used to make papad, pickles, handloom and handicraft items, spices and other things, but then in 2009 CESU involved us for collection work. Initially, there was some fear as regards collect
ing money but gradually we gained confidence. Today, however, we also do the billing part.” Dwelling on her initial days of struggle, she said: “It was not easy to visit various villages. There were many who used to refuse paying money for electricity consumption. I handled 800 consumers out of which 500 were regular payers, while the rest never used to pay . I used to visit the houses of those 300 consumers and tried my best to convince them to pay their bills. Now, out of 300, 200 has become regular payers.” Now, whenever they see us they address us as Bijli Didi and whenever they face electricity problems instead of visiting the electricity
office they share their grievances with us, she said. Sanjugta earns around `30,000 to `50,000 per month from her collection. “Joining this initiative has helped me earn a good amount. For billing and collection we get 6 per cent. I earn more than my husband,” she said. Another woman Rina Sahoo (41) handles around 2000 consumers at Mahipur block and she is very happy to be associated with the endeavour. “Though I belong from a financially good background I wanted to do something so got involved with the SHG. Earlier, our group was involved in midday meals and other small activities, but working with the electricity de
partment has increased my source of income. Moreover, the respect we receive from people makes us happy.” Explaining the reason why only women are involved for the job, Subhasmita Mishra, manager of FEDCO, said: “Earlier, men were engaged in all these activities but we found that the collection was very irregular and the amount decreased with time. They were not sincere; so we thought of involving SHG groups. CESU has engaged some SHGs but we have included more groups. Initially, they worked as the collectors but then we trained them for billing and now they do both billing and collection.” Stating that many consumers don’t pay bills, she said, “Women can enter the houses of villagers easily. So they get the opportunity to interact and convince those who think that the government is providing them electricity for free and so they don’t have to pay. These women convinced them that the government has provided free connections but one has to pay as per the consumption.” Dwelling on the benefits of the initiative, Mishra said: “Earlier, there used to be collections of around `270 crore, but now they have increased to `380 crore. The way they are working, we are hopeful that in the coming years we would recover all the loss that CESU has incurred in the past
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