From engaging widows in making snacks and spices to training young girls in various chores like tailoring and beauty parlour, BHEl Mahila welfare centre has come a long way in empowering women of the township.
Aside from employing needy widows in some works and helping them turn self-dependent in running their families, the all-women outfit has started various summer courses under CSR activity to assist the needy women of the adjoining localities.
The biggest unit of the organisation, catering to the taste buds of nearly 11,000 BHEl employees, is the snacks centre which produces 23,000 pieces of khasta kachauri per day and 10,000 laddoos to be consumed during the tea time by the factory workers. These are sold at subsidised rates in the factory premises. Section in-charge Asha Gupta told The Pioneer, “We make varieties of sweets like bundi laddoo, besan laddoo, shakker paras (sweet meats), matri (salty snacks), khasta and potato cutlets.” The snacks are also sold from two outlets located in the shopping centre, informs the patron of the centre, Jyotsna Aswani.
Babita, a widow hailing from Jwalapur, is engaged on pouch- packing machine which packs 60 packets of shakkaerparas (sweet meats) per minute. Even the spices used in cooking dishes and flour used in making chappatis are produced by the women working in the centre, tells Jyotsna whose pioneering efforts have helped the centre run profitably, sustaining itself all through.
A widow, Godavari Bhatt, 54, has been working at the Masala centre for the past many years. Narrating her story with her eyes glistening with tears, she said, “My husband was abducted and killed by terrorists when he was in Saudi Arabia, leaving me a widow when I was just 22. I came to work here for one week, but the empathy shown by officers’ wives made me stay back. Today with their kind help, I am settled and I have been able to marry off my two kids. The patron of the centre always encourages me to keep my spirits high.”
There are many such poor women who have been employed by the centre. “Not only do we give them employment but also boost their morale by giving gifts on festivals like Diwali and Holi. Who can understand better the pangs of a woman than a woman when she is divorced or becomes a widow,” said the patron of the ladies club Jyotsna. A total of 70 women on the roll of the mahila welfare organisation receive yearly bonus, increments and ESIC facility as any central government employee gets.
Sonam Kumari of Vishnu lok Colony, a class 8 dropout, joined the tailoring course and now she wishes to open her own boutique. "I long to stand on my own feet which is why I have enrolled myself in the six -month course here," says Sonam.
Moreover, an exhibition is also held to showcase the products made by the students, helping thus the youngsters earn pocket money, adds Jyotsna.