of every hamlet and received a huge attendance of 147 women at the gram
Sabha. I also organized 150 women into 6 Self Help groups. Now there are
regular Mahila gram Sabhas and women have started involving themselves in
village governance.
Earlier, the villagers did not attend the gram Sabha though it was expected
of them. Only when some controversial subject was to be discussed, was there
some amount of participation. I tried to alter this tendency and there has
been a positive response. Since the village is very large and scattered, most of
the people never attended gram Sabhas, as they did not wish to walk long
distances to attend the Panchayat. I decided to walk to every house in every
hamlet to communicate with the villagers. After this, there was a change in
their attitudes, they began to appreciate my hard work, and they must have
reasoned that if their President could walk up to all the villages regularly, then
even they could travel to the Panchayat for the gram Sabhas.
The training helped me to learn more about gathering funds for the gram
Sabha, the 12th Finance Commission, and other Schemes. I ensured help to
the needy families and made them secure benefits from the personal benefit
schemes. The BPL families from poorer hamlets were able to save 50 percent
of the amount required for electricity meters after I helped them with the
relevant information.
A government power project has acquired land in Kolakewadi. For years,
villagers were only listening to the promises of rehabilitation. I made a strong
follow-up and arranged the rehabilitation of two hamlets. I repaired a water
supply schemes in three hamlets under using nearly Rs. 4,50,000. For the
other three hamlets, I constructed bus stops at each hamlet.
My village has many hamlets but limited funds, this used to raise the disputes
on how to spend the gP funds. I arrived at a solution- to work for one hamlet
every year from the gP fund. All the villagers happily approved this.
I also worked for sanitation and constructed drainage canals. I managed to
secure a huge sum, that of Rs. 9,00,000 under the Yashawant gramsamrudhi