To say that women are the backbone of Uttarakhand is to state the obvious. Though the truth is that women in the hills have led every revolution that has happened here. Perhaps one could begin with Gaura Devi who began the hugging of trees that gave birth to the Chipko Movement. Then they took on the liquor mafia and finally they threw their weight behind struggle for the creation of a separate State. Once they have made up their minds, they are like the submontane rivers of the hills – nothing will stop them.
Take for instance the post-Kedarnath rehabilitation. It would have been incomplete if it did not have women power backing it up. Of recent, the excessive rainfall has wreaked havoc: landslips, landslides, mudslides and roadblocks. While most of us sit back safe and sound in our homes, there are others who stand up to the many challenges born to those who work at over 11000 feet above mean sea level. This time around, thirteen dauntless women have taken up the cudgels to literally move heaven and earth with earth-moving machines. You will find them handling JCBs, Poklands and Hydra to keep the road open for tourists, pilgrims and locals alike.
A typical day in their lives begins at 8:30 in the morning as they ready to handle the behemoths of the modern age. They can and will give the best that they can through the day, come thunder, lightning or rain. Taking to Newspost, Media Manager for NIM Nayab Subedar Manoj Semwal briefs us, “While Youth Foundation is training a lot of the girls to qualify in the Army, some of them have been taken aboard for Kedarnath rehabilitation as well.” Manoj happily adds. “When Colonel Kotiyal put forward the proposal for women to help in the rehabilitation of the region, the girls were happy to volunteer. Keeping the inclement weather in mind, we short-listed thirteen able girls. For the past four years now, NIM and Youth Foundation has been working in the reconstruction of Kedarnath for which men and women are working as one to make it all happen.”
Selected thirteen women candidates work on various jobs like stone cutting, wire-lacing etc. Out of the thirteen, three or four have completed their basic training from National Institute of Mountaineering, and recently their training was put to test when a temporary ropeway built on the Mandakini river which was first used by the girls on a trial basis.
The thirteen women team is as under:
- Vineeta Panwar: Stone cutting machine
- Mumta Rawat : Mechanical Section
- Ganga: Hydra Operator
- Neema Negi: JCB Operator
- Gunjan Rawat: Mechanical Section
- Kanchan Gaur: Mechanical Section
- Vandana: Electrician
- Vandana Rana: Quarter Master
- Amrita Rana: Office co-ordinator
- Puja Tindudi, Kiran, Shalini, Rachna Nautiyal Wire Mesh, Lacing and Painting
Talking to Newspost, one of the thirteen girls Vineeta says,”I learnt stone cutting in just two days. Though it’s cold up here, yet this doesn’t hamper our work. We work from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00p.m and enjoy what we do.”
Kudos to women-power from team Newspost.
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