When the Manickapangu Panchayat was reserved for women in 2006, I
contested the elections for the first time and was elected President. My
husband had contested twice earlier, but had never been elected. I have been
married for 11 years now, ten of which I have spent in handling household
responsibilities. After I got elected, many thought that my husband would
be de facto President and I would just be a rubber stamp. However, I proved
them wrong. I attend meetings and trainings, I spoke up at the District-level
meetings, and people come to me as their President and demanded things. I
now leave home in the morning and return only at night. My husband has
been supportive, while I perform my duty towards the Panchayat; he takes
care of the children and the home.I have worked hard to identify and meet the needs of the community. Ours is
a Tsunami affected area, where four villages were completely washed out and
over 900 families affected. Therefore, my priority was to ensure the completion
of the rehabilitation process. I noticed that 120 SC families were left out of the
rehabilitation because they did not belong to the fishing community However,
these families were affected nonetheless and required housing. Therefore, after
collaborating with an NgO, all these families were provided with homes.
Permanent shelters that had been constructed after the Tsunami were far and
did not have any water supply, so I went with other Panchayat members to the
District Collector and got funds sanctioned which would ensure that water
would be provided to the shelters.I wish to stress the importance of education in the Panchayat. For this purpose,
I approached a private company (it had set up a gas plant in the area) to
provide free books and uniforms for school going children of the Panchayat.
At present, the company is sponsoring books and uniforms for over 700
students, along with funds for the infrastructure development of the schools.
I am also using the funds allocated under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to meet the
needs of these schools. I see to it that PTA meetings are held monthly and
I attend them myself as well. The Panchayat has achieved nearly full school
enrollment of its children.Puneetha Ramadoss
President
Panchayat: Manikapangu
Block: Sembanarkoil
District: Nagapattinam