Gujarat: Women here move from house to house to record electricity meter readings in Dahod

VADODARA: Women in the Dahod taluka of the tribal-domiated district strut from house to house and even travel in public transport to record the readings of electricity meters and make bills. And it is not an initiative that will fade away as they have been doing so for three years now.
The decision to rope in women for meter reading was taken as part of the initiative to provide them employment.The women from Sakhi Mandals in the district have been roped in for the task.
Manisha Bhabhor from Rozam village in the taluka has been with the project since its initial days. “Initially it was difficult to rope in women for the work. But seeing others do it successfully some others joined,” she says.
The women have taken up the work of reading meters of around 2,500 connections in the taluka. The meters are spread in around five different villages. They are paid Rs 6.88 per meter reading. “The payment is on the basis of the number of readings they take. A woman can earn around Rs 10,000 per month under the project,” said Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd executive engineer Pankaj Thanawala.
Varsha Rathod from the Bhavka village said that a woman can easily visit 70 to 80 houses per day in a populated village. “Where the houses are in distant locations, we can cover around 55 houses in a day. The work also gives flexibility and other women from the group can be given the work if one of us is unable to come for some reasons,” said Rathod.
Dahod taluka’s livelihood manager Anjana Muniya said that a memorandum of understanding was signed with the power company for the work. “Women educated between Class 10 and Class 12 are eligible for the work,” she said.
The work has been taken up in other talukas in Dahod district too, but has not been very successful.