This Young Sarpanch Created a Model Village With CCTV Cameras, WiFi & a Renewable Energy Power Station
There was no electricity, no water system and law and order were almost out of control when Himanshu joined as a Sarpanch in 2006.
Many families had migrated from the village, the village Panchayat was carrying a loss of Rs 1.2 lakh, and there were 328 families below poverty line living there.
However, no one was willing to listen to a young boy who didn’t hold any position in the village.
“They would tell me that you are too young to understand how a village works. It is not easy to change the mindset of the villagers,” Himanshu said while talking to The Better India.
After finishing his graduation, he contested in the Gram Panchayat elections of Punsari in 2006 and became the youngest Sarpanch of Punsari at the age of 22.
“I needed a team to work. I couldn’t have done it alone. But the Panchayat had no funds to recruit even a single member. Hence I made a 60-member team from already appointed Govt. employees in the village like teachers, Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and the staff at the health care centre etc. I asked them to progress step-by-step in their own fields,” says Himanshu.
Basic Amenities in the village through government schemes
Communication with villagers
“When I started working in 2006, I had no idea on how to go forward. I decided to first gain the trust of the villagers by providing them with the basic facilities they had been demanding for many years. After this I focused on the facilities which they weren’t demanding for, but was the need of the hour,” he explained.
Sustainable Revenue model –
“Our village is so clean that I challenge anyone coming to the village that if one finds even a single mosquito in the village, I will award them Rs 1 Lakh,” he laughs.
Technology –
“Initially when the village was made WiFi enabled, only three people came to register, but now there are 300 internet users in the village. Now the situation is such that they won’t complain if there isn’t water supply for a day, but they immediately complain if the server is down,” Himanshu says with a laugh.
Zero MMR and IMR –
As most of the villagers were in the dairy business, the women were forced to walk around 2 km every day to deliver their milk to milk banks twice a day.
The Future Ahead:
Ask him about his happiest memory as a Sarpanch, and he says, “There were 328 BPL (below poverty line) families in the village. They had neither house nor land. I could uplift them to APL (above poverty line). I think as a Sarpanch that was my biggest achievement and my happiest memory”.
You can contact Himanshu Patel on 9426379400
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