Hello I'm Julie Devi. I live at JJ colony Madanpur Khadar in Delhi.

I am a home maker, my husband works as a mason and we have three children.

My husband works in a polluted environment full of cement, mud. During a community meeting on Household Air Pollution I realised that my husband comes from a pollution ridden environement from work and Chulha is causing similar harm at home, I decided to save every bit to use an LPG and also make the women in my area aware that it is the best way.

Madanpur Khadar Extension is an unauthorized colony with mixed population of Hindu and Muslim. Approx. 30% population has their own house and 70% are tenants. The estimated 30% population is migrated from Uttar Pradesh, 30% from Bihar and rest 40% from Bengal, Assam and Jharkhand. Majority of population are construction workers, rag pickers, daily wage workers and street vendors.

We are poor people, getting an LPG every month can be a trouble. When priority is between eating well and getting an LPG, people will want a meal. There are also people who say, they like the taste of food cooked on a chulha. The  men in the community prioritize drinking and gambling over refilling the LPG. They force women to use chulha to save LPG. Majority of them have small 4kg cylinder which consumes in few days. So breaking this mind set also puts women at risk. World is talking about pollution in cities but we can't save women, children, pregnant women and even elderly if we have pollution at home.

I want to also tell women that Chulha consumes time. We can save a lot of time if we use LPG. Utilise that time in doing some work, like I have started doing putting beads on lehangas, I don't make a lot of money but may be enough to save a bit for LPG.

So its saving my health and also saving my time.

~As told to Toufiq rashid.