Civil Society News
New Delhi
THERE has been a paradigm shift in power in the
young hill state of Uttaranchal. Women have
been hired to take over from men the job of reading
electricity meters and delivering bills. They also
maintain high tension wires and perform emergency
repairs.
The Uttaranchal 
Power Corporation (UPC) has
improved its revenue collection by 20 per cent in
the past year thanks to the diligence of these rural women who came straight off the fields.
Earlier the same tasks were given to men. But the
UPC’s losses kept mounting. Reading meters and
making sure bills reach customers is very hard work
in the hills.
Under pressure to improve its financial performance,
the UPC looked around for novel solutions
and decided to try out women.
The women were more accustomed to trudging long distance and working on their fields. The opportunity to be employed by the UPC came as release from the tedium of their domestic chores and meant more money. They plunged in with an enthusiasm and sturdiness that the men could never muster. Some 400 women have been given temporary jobs. The men are still around and with the women performing so well they are feeling increasingly insecure. Finally, the UPC will have to take a call on how many people it can keep on its rolls for the same tasks. Initially, the men tried to dissuade the women from taking up the work. They told them that would not be able to get the meter readings right and that the maintenance of the high tension wires was too dangerous. Climbing poles and trekking to distant places was work for men, the women were told.
However, the first successes were all that mattered. The women never looked back after that. Uttaranchal may, in fact, lead the way forother states who have serious revenue problems in their power corporations because of inefficiency and corruption. In Uttaranchalwomen in ever-growing numbers are seeking work as meter readers, bill distributors and maintenance staff."I am reallyhappy. We had not planned to engage them in repair and maintenance work which is quite difficult. But they are so efficient anddiligent that they have become formidable factors in the power department," says BM Verma, chairman and managing director of theUPC. He says that the idea first came to him during his early‘frustrating’ journey to Uttarkashi in 2006. "We went to start a 33 KVsubstation. The locals and the panchayats were really unhappy and disgruntled: their electricity bills never reached them, breakdownswould go unchecked, the reading of meters was wrong, defects in the lines were never repaired.” Men employed by the UPCwere invariably habitual drinkers who found it difficult to stay away from alcohol even during the day. Naturally, they were lazy andwould look for ways of shirking work. Women have often taken the lead in Uttarakhand.
They have, for instance, taken up cudgelsagainst alcoholism. They have also been in the forefront during environmental campaigns to save forests. Razia Begum, ajobless widow, was the first to work for the UPC. She was trained to read and document meters and distribute electricity bills for just Rs6 for every connection. Razia quickly began earning between Rs 2,000 and Rs2,500 for just two weeks of work, a big change from having nothing. She showed the way. Other women, first reluctant, facing snide male remarks, unsure of themselves, gradually steppedinto male territory. "No problem," says Pushpa Chauhan of Uttarkashi, "I am a fast learner." They are all fast learners. Nowwomen are actually climbing electricity poles, fixing line-faults, checking faulty meters, repairing domestic defects, maintainingtransformers. Besides, they don't have to work all day long. Bills are distributed in remote villages once in 60 days. Twoweeks of work fetches Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500. Not bad for a part-time beginner's job, really.
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