A village where people join hands to help each other
Mohit Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 15
In the neighbourhood of the City Beautiful, which has no dearth of funds for development, Daria village has set an example of development through unity and care for each other.
A function to mark Dr Ambedkar Jayanti in the village on Friday turned into a showcase of how villagers were pooling funds to help each other in need, besides building civic amenities on their own.
The village panchayat celebrated the birth anniversary of the Dalit leader who framed the Constitution. They chose to honour a 60-year-old woman, Santran Devi, who collected Rs 2.5 lakh from 70 houses in her locality for the construction of a street in the village.
That was not all, one of the panchayat members spoke about the need for helping a Dalit safai sewak, Babu Lal, whose five daughters needed money for their education.
Within minutes, many villagers raised their hands and each of the girls was ensured Rs 5,000.
The man who is a sweeper by profession could not control his emotions.
Sarpanch Gurpreet Singh said Santran Devi overcame apathy of the government for the village several times.
“Whenever there is snapping of water supply in houses located in her street, she along with other women of the locality barge into my house with buckets to fill the water. She prompts us to take action. We need such women for the progress of the village,” said Gurpreet.
Santran Devi said: “Our houses do not fall into the Administration’s boundary. So our locality is denied the grants and other benefits offered by the government. The street of our colony was in dilapidated conditions. It required urgent care. I offered money for the construction of street. Similarly, I managed to encourage other residents of the locality to contribute money. Some residents had objections so I visited their houses. Finally, we arranged Rs 2.5 lakh and managed to construct the street. We cannot just sit and blame the government. If we what to bring change than someone among us have to take the responsibility”.
Nearly 30 women of the village, including yoga instructor, was also honoured on the occasion.
Gurpreet Singh, sarpanch of the village, said: “In our village the population of girl child is more as compared to boys. We need to encourage people that not to have a gender bias.”
Babu Ram, safai sewak of the village, aspired for a son and ended up having five daughters, said Singh.
With meagre salary, he did not have the means to run the house, stressed Gurpreet.
“Devi Lal, a resident of the village, came forward and offered a fix deposit Rs 5,000 for Babu Ram’s daughter. So we decided to honour Devi Ram on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti,” said Gurpreet Singh.
While the function was in progress, two more residents namely Balwant Singh and Arun Kumar offered Rs 5,000 each for fix deposits and NGO Grewal Sabha also chipped in with Rs 5000 fix deposit for the fifth daughter of Babu Ram.
By the time the function ended, the panchayat received six more proposals for fix deposit to fund the education of girl child.
The panchayat has decided to offer these donations to needy girl child on the occasion of the Independence Day.
“It shows the character of people who are coming all out to ensure that no daughter is killed in the womb or denied the right of education,” said Sukhdev Singh, a youngster who was feeling proud to be a resident of the village.
Gurpreet Singh, another youth of the village, said the amount might appear to be smaller, but it shows the kindness of the villagers.
