"Placement" service for maid-servants now

Guwahati, May 10 (UNI) The impeccable maid-servants, the force behind the smooth functioning of a middle-class family in India, will soon be "home managers".

The Centre for Rural Development (CRD), an NGO working for the uplift of the condition of the working class, has launched its new project, "Home Manager", for the maid-servants in Guwahati.

Ms Sapna Das of the CRD said, " The new project is basically modelled to help maid-servants find reliable homes to work and help the employers find dependable maids. " " The project is only two-month old, "Ms Das said adding it would be expanded in a phased manner depending on the response it drew and the feedback received.

She said, " We are training 40 women in the first batch. Two of them have already been placed, one works in our CRD office itself, while the other is employed in the residence of one of our staff members. " Elaborating on the "Home Manager" project, Ms Das said, " Both parties, the women and the employers, will be registered with the CRD. The CRD will provide uniform, identity cards and also train the women. " The training of the maid-servants had become essential due to the growing use of electronic devices in homes of prospective employers, she added.

Besides training on basic hygiene, use of domestic appliances like washing machines, ovens and so on and so forth, the women would be given tips on how to handle an emergency situation, like fire, gas leakage and other things.

On another aspect of the new project, Ms Das said, " If a maid-servant provided by us falls sick or is absent for a long duration, if the employers contact us, we will provide them with another women. " While the wages would be fixed between the women and employers directly, the CRD would ensure that none of the two got a raw deal.

Highlighting that the project would provide at least a certain level of security to both parties, Ms Das said, " The women are apprehensive to go to work in unknown homes, but have to take up the jobs due to their financial constraints. But when an employer is registered with us, it will give some amount of security to the maid-servants. " Similarly, when a family will hire a maid from the CRD, they could expect more reliability from the women, she added.

Ms Das said though the project was very new, it had drawn good response, especially from the maid-servants, and hoped it would repeat the success story of other CRD projects.

The Rickshaw Bank project was the most successful project of the CRD, under which a rickshaw-puller could own the rickshaw he plies by paying its manufacturing cost to the CRD in easy daily instalments.

UNI