Berhampur: In a remarkable step towards economic empowerment of women, the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) has entrusted the operation and maintenance of the septage treatment plant (STP) at Mohuda to women self-help group (WSHG).
The Agrata City Level Federation (ACLF), one of the leading WSHGs in the Ganjam district, was handed over the work through a contract agreement signed between the SHG and BeMC at an event presided over by the Housing and Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena held through video conference mode today in the presence of Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange, BeMC Commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore and others.
As per the agreement, the HR cost will be paid to ACLF and the rest expenditure will be supplemented by BeMC. About 30% of surplus will be given to executive body members and 70% will be given to members working at SeTP, the BeMC said in a press note.
The BeMC said that the short listing of the appropriate SHG for this work was done through a rigorous evaluation process.
“Four SHGs were shortlisted among 70 other SHGs who had aspired for taking up this task. All the SHGs were scrutinized through a pre-qualification criteria. These four shortlisted SHGs went through a series of evaluation process and led to the selection of AGARATA CLF and other SHG members”, it added.
The success of the IEC campaign on Malasur phase I and phase II and the operation and maintenance of the CTs by these women collective acted as an inspiration for introducing a revenue generating model for increasing requests for mechanized cesspool emptying operations through referrals received from SHGs.
The initiative on referral model for cesspool demand generation is based on the concept wherein the SHGs were provided incentives per request generated from each household, the BeMC said while adding that it will provide technical and handholding assistance to the SHG.