The lady who moves the earth

Nagpur: At a

Western Coalfields Limited

(

WCL

) mine in a small village in Chandrapur, there’s this 55-year-old woman behind the wheels of an earth-moving heavy machinery. She is probably the only woman working in the field at the coal mine located at Padampur.

Chandraprabha Ramteke

is one of the very few

women

shovel operators employed by WCL. Her husband used to work in WCL’s canteen. After his death around 14 years ago, the responsibility of her two kids fell on Chandraprabha’s shoulders. She could have taken her husband’s place in the canteen. But wanting to give an answer to all those who called her weak, she decided to become a shovel operator. “I had seen women driving cars and planes on television. I thought if they can drive those, why can’t I handle a shovel?” she says. Being a shovel operator, Chandraprabha drives and moves heavy vehicles equipped with buckets, shovels and other machinery used for loading and unloading coal and earth. She underwent training for six months and then joined the male brigade. “Operating a shovel needs not just physical strength but also alertness and excellent eye-hand coordination since cable men and other staffers are working under

the heavy

vehicle. However, it is not something women can’t do,” she says. Her seniors admire her and say that she is no less than her male counterparts. “She is doing a job which even men find difficult. It requires physical and mental strength. Though she is into a profession quite rare for females, she is performing better than males,” said a WCL official.