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The Lineswomen of Maharashtra
by Rishi Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:36 pm
ASCENT
VIDYUT SAHAYAKS Jagruti Gavan, 20 (right) looks on as she and Gayatri Bhoir, 25, practise fixing an electric line during a practical class at MSEDCL’s training centre in Nashik (Photos: RITESH UTTAMCHANDANI)
On 6 September, at precisely 9.30 am, when 22-year-old Rupali Gawand climbed up an electricity pole, little did she know that she had made history. All she was aware of was a feeling of elation. The climb, though with safety gear, was scary at first. But she gained confidence with every upward step, and before she knew it, she had climbed all the way up and then down. Those assembled below clapped. Photographs were clicked. There was much cheering. For the petite Rupali, it was a moment that will forever stay in memory.
Rupali made history as the first woman in the country to climb an electricity pole as part of her job. A vidyut sahayak, she is among 2,200 women recruits who have recently been employed as linewomen by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL). This is the first time in India that such a company has taken on women as line staff to work hands-on with electricity poles, live cables, transformers and other pieces of field equipment that function as part of a power supply network. So when Rupali climbed up an electricity pole that cloudy morning as part of her training, she was the first.
The recruitment is part of a policy that reserves 30 per cent of the jobs in the sector for women. In case the government could not find suitable candidates to appoint, it had the option of making appointments in another sector. However, says Ram Dutonde, general manager, public relations, MSEDCL, the company decided to hire women as vidyut sahayaks (literally, electricity helpers).
Neither the company nor Rupali saw it as a breakthrough. At least not until Open broached the subject. “The first batch of women was being trained [recently] and pole climbing was part of it. We did write down the date and time, but the significance of Gawand’s climb was lost on us,” says Chandrashekhar Yerme, chief engineer and programme coordinator at the company’s Nashik training centre.
“My God! Am I really the first woman to do this?” asks a jubilant Rupali from her home in Borze village in Raigad district’s Pen taluka. Her big regret is that she did not wait a little longer atop the pole for a good view. “I was nervous,” she says, “I just forgot to look around. Everyone was clapping and I was looking down at them. I wish I had stayed up there a little longer.”
Rupali belongs to the Agri community of fisherfolk whose women sell fish for a living; they cannot understand why she has taken to climbing poles when selling fish is so much easier. For her, however, it was a challenge she gladly took on. For days during her training, she watched male colleagues climb up and down electricity poles. However, no woman was willing to step forth and give it a try. “I observed the men for two days, and the next day decided to do it myself,” she says, “It looked difficult, but every step I moved up it seemed so easy.”
She was brought up by her mother Vijaya, a domestic help who had such a gruelling daily schedule (without holidays) that it robbed her and her three siblings of “mother’s love”. But it also made her determined to give her mother a better life. Today, armed with a government job on a starting monthly salary of Rs 6,000, she knows her family’s days of poverty will soon be over. Vijaya is proud of her daughter.
More on
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-lineswomen-of-maharashtra
VIDYUT SAHAYAKS Jagruti Gavan, 20 (right) looks on as she and Gayatri Bhoir, 25, practise fixing an electric line during a practical class at MSEDCL’s training centre in Nashik (Photos: RITESH UTTAMCHANDANI)
On 6 September, at precisely 9.30 am, when 22-year-old Rupali Gawand climbed up an electricity pole, little did she know that she had made history. All she was aware of was a feeling of elation. The climb, though with safety gear, was scary at first. But she gained confidence with every upward step, and before she knew it, she had climbed all the way up and then down. Those assembled below clapped. Photographs were clicked. There was much cheering. For the petite Rupali, it was a moment that will forever stay in memory.
Rupali made history as the first woman in the country to climb an electricity pole as part of her job. A vidyut sahayak, she is among 2,200 women recruits who have recently been employed as linewomen by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL). This is the first time in India that such a company has taken on women as line staff to work hands-on with electricity poles, live cables, transformers and other pieces of field equipment that function as part of a power supply network. So when Rupali climbed up an electricity pole that cloudy morning as part of her training, she was the first.
The recruitment is part of a policy that reserves 30 per cent of the jobs in the sector for women. In case the government could not find suitable candidates to appoint, it had the option of making appointments in another sector. However, says Ram Dutonde, general manager, public relations, MSEDCL, the company decided to hire women as vidyut sahayaks (literally, electricity helpers).
Neither the company nor Rupali saw it as a breakthrough. At least not until Open broached the subject. “The first batch of women was being trained [recently] and pole climbing was part of it. We did write down the date and time, but the significance of Gawand’s climb was lost on us,” says Chandrashekhar Yerme, chief engineer and programme coordinator at the company’s Nashik training centre.
“My God! Am I really the first woman to do this?” asks a jubilant Rupali from her home in Borze village in Raigad district’s Pen taluka. Her big regret is that she did not wait a little longer atop the pole for a good view. “I was nervous,” she says, “I just forgot to look around. Everyone was clapping and I was looking down at them. I wish I had stayed up there a little longer.”
Rupali belongs to the Agri community of fisherfolk whose women sell fish for a living; they cannot understand why she has taken to climbing poles when selling fish is so much easier. For her, however, it was a challenge she gladly took on. For days during her training, she watched male colleagues climb up and down electricity poles. However, no woman was willing to step forth and give it a try. “I observed the men for two days, and the next day decided to do it myself,” she says, “It looked difficult, but every step I moved up it seemed so easy.”
She was brought up by her mother Vijaya, a domestic help who had such a gruelling daily schedule (without holidays) that it robbed her and her three siblings of “mother’s love”. But it also made her determined to give her mother a better life. Today, armed with a government job on a starting monthly salary of Rs 6,000, she knows her family’s days of poverty will soon be over. Vijaya is proud of her daughter.
More on
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-lineswomen-of-maharashtra
Rishi- Posts : 5129
Join date : 2011-09-02
Re: The Lineswomen of Maharashtra
by Rishi Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:36 pm
>>> OMG This stupid girl is not wearing any shoes.
Rishi- Posts : 5129
Join date : 2011-09-02
Re: The Lineswomen of Maharashtra
by Rishi Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:38 pm
>>> I humbly request Dr. Jayalalitha to recruit lineswoman as well.
Rishi- Posts : 5129
Join date : 2011-09-02
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