part in their daily life events as well as special ones like wedding ceremonies, pujas or festivals, was momentous and memorable ! Walking door to door, talking to Sarpanch or village elders or with women in a group with self help lady assistants was an experience worth treasuring. Be it the ‘Bhagwanpur’ hamlet in district Meerut or ‘Mangroli’ in NCR district of Gautam Budh Nagar, each place had its own charm and challenges, which we surmounted sometimes with a little or at others, with more effort. The positive response we got from the womenfolk and the smiles on their faces once they received the Indane connection under PMUY was worth our efforts. To bring them out of their previous smoke filled life to a clean smoke-free environment provided a platform to the beneficiaries of PMUY to build their lives forward stepping slowly on the foundation laid for them. Every interaction and experience with each lady benefitted by PMUY was worth capturing and keeping on record.
Along with my team members, I have been closely associated with the mentoring the students of a local Management Institute, where we undertook upon ourselves, to inculcate in them a sense of Social responsibility towards women in particular, and the society at large. We roped in students to give 30 hours of their CSR activity to our PMUY beneficiaries, to survey and determine the impact that the LPG connection released in their favour through PMUY has made in their lives at present. They were also asked to
ensure that these beneficiaries learn the proper use of LPG as a clean cooking fuel and the benefits that accrue in the form of the improvement in health, saving of time and resources and give them some economic thrust to adopt means of earning more money for their families.. For this, we had inked and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Jaipuria Management Institute in NOIDA, so that their 300 plus students, in collaboration with the channel partners of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., could visit the PMUY consumers of LPG in rural parts of our 11 districts in state of Uttar Pradesh, India under our Area Office at NOIDA.
As the head of our NOIDA Area Office, responsible for reach of LPG to the farthest and remotest corner in our 11 western UP districts, I have also had the opportunity to mentor many of my Channel partners. Sometimes, our LPG distributors require a lot of mentoring, guidance and handholding and this is precisely what I have tried to provide in my various capacities. When I joined NOIDA Area Office there were only 166 LPG Distributors i.e. Channel Partners under our jurisdiction, but I am happy to share that at the time when I left that office after 6 years this year, their numbers had increased to 327 i.e. almost double. This meant that in the same geographical area and state boundary, we had increased the reach and penetration of LPG to the interior most, as well as the most far flung and remotest areas, which is a success story in itself. Another 50 persons at different locations were also in the process of setting up such distributorships in the near future, which would easily take the tally of our channel partners to over 375!
We are contributing in a big way to the Government of India initiatives of reaching out to the interior most parts of India especially the rural belts of the country. We have succeeded in increasing the penetration of LPG from mere 63%, three years ago to almost 90% now. We have also successfully given away 6 Crores of free LPG connections to the women beneficiaries across the country in a span of just 32 months, on Industry basis, which is in itself a yardstick to measure the intensity of involvement of both the Government and the public sector Oil Marketing Companies in PMUY
Promotion and publicity of the various available schemes is being done in a big way by the Government and our company too. These schemes are ongoing with a single minded vision and mission to serve the masses of the country, and saturate all the villages with LPG, apart from the urban areas. The vision, of providing each household whether urban or rural, with a LPG connection to make them smokeless or free from smoke and to improve their lifestyle and protect the environment around them is turning into a reality.
I see myself contributing in all possible manner, participating in all possible ways with full enthusiasm and zeal, be it focussed discussions on various platforms and forums or field work at the ground level in the rural parts of the country. Our endeavour is on to eliminate the drudgery of womenfolk in the country and empower them beyond the visible horizons.
Rummana Qidwai (IndianOil) Delhi State Office
May 1, 2016 was a momentous day not only in the annals of the country but perhaps in the history of mankind. This was a day when the ambitious program to change and transform lives of 50 Million women folk by reaching clean cooking fuel to their kitchen
“PRADHAN MANTRI UJJWALA YOJANA” was launched from the laid-back town of Balia in UP by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi. It has been truly a blue flame initiative transforming lives. This initiative created an impact on the people and was extremely well appreciated for its commencement. Thus we can proudly say that this scheme was well appreciated by all.
Earlier on, women used cow dung and bio fuels for their cooking needs which wreaked havoc on their health. They used to spend hours searching the land and forest region to collect wood and biomass. They had no time left to do anything else for themselves and perhaps prayed for their pain to be eased. It was as if God heard their prayers and thus PMUY was introduced. LPG was not just an inspirational cooking fuel for the underprivileged and the downtrodden, rather it was a life changing initiative. A gateway