Women attend CLF meetings at their own expense, they do not receive any honorarium

With the objective of making the women of nine panchayats of Junga tehsil self-reliant, Keonthal Cluster Level Federation (CLF) has been formed under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). Its office is in Janedghat where meetings of women of village organization and self-help groups are held twice every month. Women of far-flung villages leave their household chores and reach the meetings at their own expense. There is anger among the women due to non-receipt of travel allowance.
It is worth noting that under CLF Janedghat, 18 village organizations (VO) and 271 self-help groups have been formed in which 1776 women are associated. According to sources, some women in these self-help groups have started their own business, which mainly includes pickles, chutney, dairy farming, making various types of attractive products from pine leaves, while most of the women are unemployed.
Some women associated with CLF told that due to lack of direct bus service to Janedghat, women have to hire a vehicle for which they have to pay a minimum of 500 rupees. Apart from this, each woman has to pay 250 rupees for attending the meeting and 120 rupees for food in Janedghat, i.e. one meeting costs about one thousand rupees. They told that most of the women take loan under NRLM and spend it on household needs instead of running their business. Due to which most of the poor women are now forced to leave the group. Women have demanded from the government to make provision for travel allowance for attending the meeting.
Anita Sharma, head of Keonthal Cluster Level Federation, said that there is no provision of travel allowance and food for attending the meeting as the cluster has no income of its own. She said that the cluster is considering giving Rs. 100 per woman as allowance which is like a drop in the ocean.