I ensured that the hand pumps were placed at points where a maximum
number of people could avail of the facility, working this out by consensus. At
the time of road construction, encroachment was a major problem. When the
encroachers refused to vacate the land, instead of tackling the issue head on,
I called the Patwari, (the Officer in charge of maintaining land records) and
verified and established the Panchayat’s ownership.
After the gram Sabha passed a resolution to increase the number of
school buildings, I ensured that the Education Department sanctioned the
construction. Now, there are additional buildings in each of the schools in the
Panchayat and teacher’s absenteeism has reduced. There are now five schools
in the Panchayat, out of which four are Primary Schools and one is till Class x.
Earlier, there were three schools, but none of them were functioning properly,
due to a lack of infrastructure.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was in constructing a road using MLA
funds. I managed to get funds sanctioned for the road, but did not realize
that there is a double evaluation for these funds. The building materials
were bought and kept at the construction site. The engineer in charge of
the evaluation work, used to do things slowly and according to his will,
and slowly problems started. The construction material started disappearing
overnight. Then the other members complained and threatened to use
Section 40 against me, I used my own money to replace the material and get
the work finished. I underwent financial problems and mental agony due to
all this. I have learnt that it was very important for me to keep an eye on the
minutest details for all work that is undertaken, since my accountability to
the villagers is paramount.
During the trainings, I had learnt the importance of gram Sabha and
Panchayat meetings. Now I ensure that the Panchayat meetings take place
regularly and the members of the Council are treated with dignity and parity.
Unlike previous meetings, I ensured that everyone was given a chair to sit on
during the meetings and for the gram Sabha meetings good mats were bought
for all to sit on – no chairs are used here!