A new service in the basket, Umri Panchyat, Madhya Pradesh
Gram Sabha was held at Meriyakhedi Panchayat as mandated by the constitution. The villagers were encouraged to attend the Gram Sabha in large numbers by Soochna Sevak from SSK Chanchouda and were conveyed the importance of collectivism. Soochna Sevak undertook door to door campaigning in order to get maximum attendance for the said meeting. A day before the Gram Sabha, Soochna Sevak team went to the Meriyakhedi Village for canvassing. They also engaged a senior citizen from the village Shri Prabhulal to encourage and motivate maximum number of people to attend the Sabha.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary, Sarpanch, Panch, 30 male and 7 female members of Gram Sabha. During canvassing the Soochna Seva Team realised that the Secretary was not in favor of this Gram Sabha and was trying to discourage people from attending it. In his address on the day of Gram Sabha he mentioned – “There are other villages also where Gram Sabha will be held why all of you are so enthusiastic to attend this one?”
According to a Notification of Government and the agenda, meeting was supposed to commence at 11 AM. The Secretary wanted to delay or cancel the meeting as he seemed afraid of facing questions from the audience. The rivalry between the Sarpanch and the Secretary of Meriyakhedi village became very obvious and appeared as a great challenge for Soochna Sevaks to bring the two rival groups on the same table. With lot of effort and strong negotiations by Soochna Sevaks with people and Secretary, were able to convince them to conduct the meeting in spite of the delay and finally people gathered at the Community Hall for the meeting. The meeting started with the Secretary reading out the agenda and shared following information with the gathering:-
- According to the new guidelines self-attested Income certificate is valid.
- Provided information about the Social Security Pension Scheme.
- It was informed that whoever comes in BPL category, automatically becomes listed & eligible for Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojna, but people wanted to know the names in the list also.
- Rozghar Sahayak read out the names in BPL list and Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojna.
Soochna Sevaks tried their best to continue the meeting for longer duration, so as to provide an opportunity to the Gram Sabha members for putting forth their proposals, but Sarpanch left the venue as he was not interested in the proceedings and many people followed suit and left from the Community Hall. I also stepped out to interact with people who had just left the meeting, the interaction revealed certain important facts.
It was surprising to see that the crowd which was quiet inside was vocal outside the hall. Several people requested me, including the elderly villager Shri Prabhulal that the work of the Secretary needs to be investigated for his fraudulent activities. I was also told that the Secretary took bribe to clear Indira Awas Yojna & also Pension Forms and to avoid charges he have hidden the files. My colleague Mr. Naval Kushwaha told that the Secretary have strictly instructed Rozgar Sevak not to show the proceedings of this Gram Sabha. I informed the villagers about their Right to Information and also explained that they should exercise their right by filing an application to the RTI. The villagers readily agreed to my suggestion of writing a common application representing the whole village and also to share the 4 recordings with CG Swara Net, they also asked me for the contact details of CG Net.
Some Soochna Sevaks remained with the Secretary and tried to get some proposals from the community.
From the proposals which they received, the proposal demanding a pond for Banjarapura was on top priority.
It is imperative to mention here that in the past the Gram Sabha meetings were seldom held and happened only on paper.
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