I am a simple, cheerful, and active person. Other than the problems in my
own Ward, I look to the problems in the whole village and other Wards as
well. Not only that, I look after the village development works and keep a
check on the Schemes, like Mid-Day Meal in schools. I am never afraid of
raising my voice against any one at a higher post.One day my son came to me saying he will not go to school because the
teacher beat him up. Therefore, the next day I went to met the teacher and
told her that she should be more sensitive towards children. Then, some
students came to me and told me that the teacher asks them to bring Rs. 50
but they do not have the money. Therefore, I inquired why is this money
being collected. To this the teacher turned around and asked me who I was to
be asking her these questions. I told her that I am the elected representative
of people in the village. We had an argument and I went to complaint to the
Anchal Samiti Chairperson and told him that if he does not take any action
then I will go to the Zilla Parishad. Then, the Assistant Education Officer
came to speak to the teacher. I told her that if she will not provide receipts
for the money she takes no one will believe her even if she is using it for the
benefit of the School and the students.I had also taken another educated Ward Chairperson called Nena with me; she
is also a member of the Education Committee. She told me that whenever such
decision as collecting money is taken it has to be passed in the Committee and
a proper register has to be maintained for that. After hearing this, the teacher
and the officer went inside the room. Then after some time me and Nena
went inside the room where we saw that both of them were filling the register.
Therefore, I created an outcry; I said it has to be filled in the presence of the
whole Committee. At the end of all of this, a sum of Rs.5950 was returned to
all 119 girls from whom the money was collected. There were 450 students in
the school, so I checked a fraud involving Rs. 22,500.Hodri Bai
Ward Member
Panchayat: Santpur
Block: Abu Road
District: Sirohi