Prayagraj: Bijli Sakhi helping rural women

PRAYAGRAJ: Move to rely on women power to realise electricity dues from rural residents is paying off. Select groups of rural women engaged as ‘Bijli Sakhis’ (a state government’s initiative) has resulted in collection of power bills worth over Rs 49 lakh from rural areas of district.
This amount has been realised from areas like Soraon, Koraon, Meja, Karchana, Mauaima and Pratappur development blocks in Prayagraj between February 1 and June 15 this year, despite the raging pandemic. Around 102 women working in ten groups managed to realise the whopping amount from 5,274 consumers, and in turn, earning Rs 2.5 lakh as commission for themselves.
Ranjana, a 30-year-old resident of Dhokari village in Phulpur development block and mother of two kids aged 10 and 7, is busy doing her job as a bijlee sakhi these days. Every morning, she quickly finishes off the household chores and leaves for her government job. Starting from 10 am, Ranjana visits home after home walking long stretches under the scorching sun, reading electricity meters and generating bills on a smart device hanging around her neck. After collecting the billed amount, she deposits it at the local power department office on all working days.
Having done her BA from a local degree college, this is the first time she has stepped out of her home to work and support her family, just like dozens of other women who too have been employed as bijli sakhis in Prayagraj. These women have been entrusted with the task of visiting rural homes, taking readings of the electricity metres and collecting the due amounts.
“After taking the responsibility of a bijli sakhi, I underwent a brief training on reading metres and generating power bills, and started working in August, 2020,” she added. “We had given training to 115 women to work as bijli sakhis in Prayagraj, and 102 out of them have already started reading electricity meters, generating bills and collecting due amounts. The fact that they have earned a commission of Rs 2.5 lakh for themselves in less than five months despite the Covid-19 is pandemic is worth applauding,” NRLM’s district mission manager, Amit Shukla said.