Nagpur: A minister spending a full night in a remote adivasi village for sensing the burning problems being faced by villagers would certainly be a mindboggling concept. No minister had done such an “adventure.” But the Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule is an exception. He did it and brought the reality regarding problems, difficulties of villagers to the fore. And the minister resolved to provide relief to the villagers, as well.
The concept of a minister spending a night with villagers and knowing their different difficulties and problems is being viewed with significance. The District Administration is nudged to provide relief to the villagers in more ways than one. The minister came to know whether the government schemes reach the villagers, opinions of villagers regarding government working, where the improvement can be done, what should be done and other such realities were sensed by Bawankule. Even though civic facilities are same in all the villages but still they differ from one village to another. The night in a village revealed this factor to the minister. There is a vast difference between the government facilities and the work done by District Administration. Government will have to ponder over the difficulties while carrying out development works in remote villages. Otherwise, people in villages would be deprived of development and facilities.
Name of village was kept a secret:
The Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule decided to spend a day in a village in a month. But the name of the village was kept a well guarded secret for the element of surprise. The minister and the borders of the village were to know the name on a specific time. Therefore, it was a matter of curiosity for the administration and villagers where the minister will spend his day. The taluka-level administration was on the toes with anxiety gripping them: Will the minister dash to their village and spend the day? The village machinery was geared up for the moment.
However, the lid on the secret was blow over when Bawankule declared the name of the village he is going to spend a day or night. It was a remote Nand village, an adivasi area rich with natural resources. Nand Village comes under Bhivapur Taluka, the last point in Nagpur District. Bawankule spent the day and night in Nand on August 6, 2016 and interacted with villagers.
The surprised as well as joyous villagers came out with a list of problem and difficulties they were facing. The 4500-population village was experiencing a rare moment as the minister had chosen it for his adventure. Bawankule crisscrossed the narrow lanes, by-lanes and listened to the problems of villagers. The problems galore.
Along with villagers, a swarm of mosquitoes also made the Guardian Minister aware of a horde of problems the village was facing. Whether the village would see development or not is a pertinent question but a stark reality dawned on the minister.
In sum, the concept of the Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule sparing a thought of spending a day or night in a remote village is certainly a mind-blowing concept. For, no minister had ever spent his day or night in a village of problems and difficulties in the past.
Whether the problems would be solved or not is not the question. It is a matter of time. But the beginning has been made to provide a sort of relief to remote villagers.
