stating that the plot was under his lease agreement. I spoke to villagers to
provide support to stop the mining and discussed the issue with the Mahila
Mandal (Women’s group).
To register our protest, we blocked the road to the mining site and the trucks
were unable to reach the site. For two days, 80 members of the women’s group,
Self-Help group, affected farmers, members of the Panchayat and I sat on a
‘Truck Roko Abhiyaan’ (Stop the Trucks Campaign). We camped at the site
and did not allow any trucks to pass, when the police tried to remove us, I
stopped them, and we continued our ‘sit-in’. Our demand was to stop the
mining immediately. However, we also stated that if the mining continued, a
part of the revenue should be given as tax to the Panchayat, so that the money
could be utilized for the Panchayat’s development and to take care of the
damage done by the trucks to the roads. We also demanded compensation
for the farmers affected by the mining. The Court decided on a stay on both
construction work of the pond as well as on the mining at the disputed site.
We followed the Court’s order and are still waiting for the judgment to arrive,
but the contractor did not follow the Court’s order and continues to mine at
the site. On behalf of the Panchayat, I filed a fresh complaint to the Court,
to inform them of the current situation. A few years ago, I could not have
thought of leading a protest of this magnitude.
The Panchayat has an old tradition of migration that we tried to solve with
the help of NREgS. We made 500 job cards, started road construction work,
and pond deepening under NREgS. The population of Devgaon, spread over
five villages, needs to travel far for medical help. We are currently trying to
establish a Health Centre in the Panchayat. I keep vigil with the help of the
Self-Help group members and women group members on the two schools, a
Primary School, and one till Class x, to ensure the regularity of the teachers
and proper implementation of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme.
When I began my journey as the President, I was a veiled daughter-in-law
of the village. I seldom spoke in front of outsiders. With the help of the
training programs conducted by The Hunger Project, I lead a new life now.