A 6 month survey by the NGO, Tathapi trust has revealed that shortage of kerosene and high cost of LPG is forcing poor urban families to return to collecting firewood and lighting chulhas to meet their household energy needs leading to ...... The summary below is based on the article,'Collecting firewood is their main chore', by Manjiri Damle,published in the Pune edition of the The Times of India, 24 Aug 2007.
A 6 month survey (January-June 2007) was conducted by the city based NGO, Tathapi trust in 8 slums of Pune. The survey has revealed that shortage of kerosene and high cost of LPG is forcing poor families in the city to return to rural preoccupations like collecting firewood and lighting chulhas to meet their household energy needs.This forced-change is leading to health problems like chest pain, irritation of the eyes and pain in legs among women and girls living in the slums.
According to the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), families holding orange and yellow ration cards, who do not have an LPG connection are entitled to a maximum of 24 litres of kerosene per month, at Rs 9.50 per litre, while those with one LPG connection, get four litres, which is to be bought in three instalments. But according to the women in the slums none of them receive the full quota nor is it sufficient for a family of 5-6 members. This is forcing them to look for other alternatives to meet their household energy needs which needs at least a litre per day to cook. The cheapest alternative for them is biomass burning stoves or chulha and firewood.
Out of the 8 slums, chulha was the main medium of cooking in 2 slums. In all the slums, the chulha was used as a second medium, mainly for heating bath water. Women reported using diesel, wood, priced at Rs. 4 to Rs 5 per kg, coal (Rs 9-10 per kg) and sawdust (Rs 3 per kg) as cooking fuel. Women from 5 slums revealed that, when kerosene was not available, the time spent on collection of firewood was between one to four hours. Moreover, since they are using traditional stoves or the 3 stone variety stoves cooking time is increased by another two hours. To read the full article click here
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