Arvind Tyagi visits the Palika Kendra often. The photostat machine in the building which manages the civic works of the entire New Delhi Municipal Council area requires fixing from time to time. On Tuesday, he was here again to attend to a distress call from one of the many offices and as a matter of habit stopped to pick up lunch from the counter set up under the ‘Urja’ scheme. Mr. Tyagi is a regular customer of what can be termed a ‘dabba service’ that has begun at the NDMC in a bid to make unemployed women self-reliant. Thirty-two-year-old Shakuntala is the cashier for the day and had by half-past-one in the afternoon meticulously written down the name and ID card number of every customer who stopped by. The process is straightforward: the government employee deposits his or her ID card, pays Rs. 40 for the meal and takes a nicely packed container up to their offices. Identity cards are returned upon return of the dabbas.
Weeks ago when the ‘Urja’ scheme started at Palika Kendra the women managed to sell only 50-60 dabbas. Now, if there is an inkling that there is heavy demand, the women phone the kitchen which operates out of an abandoned canteen in a government school in Gole Market and order a fresh batch of dabbas.
Tuesday, however, saw brisk sales. More than 100 dabbas containing black dhal, aloo-soya bean sabzi, four rotis and rice were completely sold out. Add to that several large containers, roughly 900 grams each, of mango pickle vanished.
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Rekha Pandey, a resident of Azadpur, came to know about the scheme through newspapers and approached Shabnam Kundra, the official in-charge of Urja. “I have never worked anywhere before this and I am having a great experience meeting other women and working in a safe environment,” she says. “It was in-fact my in-laws and husband who really pushed me to get out of the house and be part of this initiative.”
Twenty women work at the canteen and everyday a new batch of six are chosen to work at the ‘front office’ at the Palika Kendra. The women are paid minimum wages. They also make an array of namkeens, sweets and bread pakodas.
“I have over 50 applications pending of women who want to be part of this scheme,” says Ms. Kundra, who on Tuesday is sitting in her seventh floor office writing proposals to strengthen the scheme. “The idea was to give unemployed women an opportunity to work and we have women from all over the city working with us. For instance, one woman was abandoned by her husband after he set her on fire. She now lives with her daughter.”
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