Recently, a photo of a DM of Bihar caught people’s attention and invited much curiosity. DM of Sheikhpura, Mr. Sawan Kumar, is seen in this photo in a rural farmer get-up (dhoti-kurta), about to start paddy harvesting. People who saw this photo were curious to know what the DM was up to. After all, this didn’t fall under his duties.
That day, when the 2015-batch IAS officer reached Bhadosi village of Ghatkusumbha block to start paddy harvesting in this get-up, even the farmers and officials were taken by surprise. After offering prayers, the DM even cut the paddy with a sickle, like a pro.
Mr. Kumar came to Sheikhpura as DM only six months ago. But, since then, he has been trying consistently to change the face of the district through many campaigns and initiatives. He also regularly goes on inspections to the rural areas as well as the district offices to check that everything is running smoothly and no work is getting hampered.
Indian Masterminds interacted with Mr. Savan Kumar to know about his work priorities in the district in detail.
FOCUSING ON THE RURAL SECTOR
As soon as Mr. Kumar became the DM of Sheikhpura, he started prioritising the rural sector. He makes surprise inspections to find out whether the benefits of government schemes are reaching the villages or not. For this, he talks directly with the common people. He asks them whether water is reaching their houses through Nal Jal Yojana or not, have they been availing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, whether they are satisfied with the quality of work under the MNREGA schemes, and so on.
“The purpose of going to the village is to understand the problems of the people. Some have water problem, some are not getting pension, etc. We listen to their problems and start working immediately to solve them. This puts pressure on the rest of the officers to solve those problems as early as possible,” he said.
He is laying special focus on health. Special attention is being paid to antenatal care and anemia-free campaigns. The administration is taking an integrated approach of education, health and education to fight anemia, while, to increase literacy among women, libraries are being opened at the cluster and block levels. And, as far as carrying out vasectomy is concerned, the district is the topper in the state.
ENSURING WATER REACHES ALL HOUSES
During his inspections, Mr. Kumar also makes it a point to check on the tap water scheme, Nal Jal Yojana. Recently, he came to know that there was no tower of Nal Jal Yojana in a village and water was being sent to the houses directly through boring. Because of this, water did not reach the homes of many poor people. After the villagers came to the DM with their grievance, Mr. Kumar scolded the officials concerned of the PHED department and ordered them to install a tower in that village at the earliest so that water can go to the houses from a tank and even distant houses will get it.
Not stopping at that, he also got tube wells installed. “Our district is a backward district. So I got tube wells installed using the district mining fund so that no area becomes drought affected and farmers do not face any shortage of water for farming,” he said.
HAR GHAR DASTAK, HAR GHAR PENSION
The officer also started the ‘Har Ghar Dastak, Har Ghar Pension’ campaign to provide pension benefits. Explaining the scheme, he said, “In this scheme, a Vikas Mitra will knock at every house and if there is any person eligible for pension, he will be given a pension card. As a result of this campaign, more than 2100 pension forms have come to us so far and the necessary work has been completed.”
Other than this, six public welfare pension schemes of the central and state governments are also being run in the district, and 65,000 beneficiaries are getting the benefits of these schemes.
REGULAR INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS
Besides going for regular inspections to villages and government offices, Mr. Kumar also goes on school inspection. He makes it a point to visit the primary schools and anganwadis whenever he is in a village. He tries to find out from the students about the presence of teachers in schools, the MDM food scheme, uniform and the quality of education. This routine inspections are bearing fruit as children have started arriving in government schools in uniforms and the truant teachers have also started being regular. As a result, the quality of education has improved and discipline is being maintained in all schools, which is very important for a child in the formative years.
