This is the story of a civil servant who has not abandoned his birthplace in the middle of the desert of Rajasthan and keeps going back, to be with his people in their time of need. The bureaucrat is IRS officer Ashok Vishnoi and the village is Kelansar. The village of Kelansar is situated approximately 130 kilometers from Jodhpur, in the middle of the Thar desert. Because of the lack of proper connectivity, the village was quite backward in terms of development.
However, things slowly started to change when the son of the village Ashok Vishnoi decided to step in and usher in development in all areas, step by step. In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Vishnoi, who is currently the Deputy Commissioner of the IT Department in New Delhi, talked about the measures that he took to uplift his village and make lives easier for his people.
DEVELOPED SCHOOLS
When Mr. Vishnoi decided to do something for his village, the first area he set his eyes on was education. The village had only government schools and they lacked proper sports areas and equipment. He decided to start his development work from here.
“The sports teacher in one of the schools was a national level player in wrestling and judo. At his request, I made safety mats available for the pupils with the help of a businessman donor. For another school, the villagers and I together contributed and purchased the mats,” Mr. Vishnoi told Indian Masterminds.
This initiative encouraged several girls and boys of the schools to actively participate in sports and 10 students each from both the schools were able to reach the state and national levels. Encouraged by this result, the officer also arranged for 100 sets of tables and benches for the students, who otherwise had to sit on the floor and study.
Also, the school had no proper gate due to which animals used to enter the campus and destroy all the greenery. “Therefore, my father and I set up a huge gate on the entry point to the school for the protection of the premises and the children. We also bought sound systems for the schools’ annual functions and celebrations, and enhanced the greenery in the campus,” Mr. Vishnoi said.
HELP DURING PANDEMIC
The second wave of the pandemic put immense pressure on the health system of the country. During this time, when the whole country was struggling for hospitals beds and oxygen cylinders, Mr. Vishnoi took stock of the situation in his own village. What worried him was that there was a scarcity of hospital beds even in the urban city of Jodhpur, so one can well imagine what would be the situation in the villages in the middle of the desert. Nothing could be worse than traveling over 150 kilometers, spending thousands of rupees, only to know that they had come in vain as there is no bed available for the patient.
“I realized that the district hospital in my subdivision wasn’t treating Covid patients. The staff wasn’t ready to get into the mess. Therefore, I contacted NGO ‘Seva Bharti’, and they helped me to create a makeshift hospital at a school. I also adopted two wards at the government hospital, and 15 people from the NGO volunteered to take care of the patients. The step was successful and together we could help a lot of people,” the officer said.
With the help of the contribution from his peers, Mr. Vishnoi brought several oxygen cylinders and concentrators and saved the lives of many people. He is full of praise for the NGO volunteers who put their lives at risk to help the villagers.“The people from the NGO helped me a lot. They weren’t fully vaccinated and still risked their own lives to save the lives of others. I am very grateful to them,” Mr. Vishnoi told Indian Masterminds.
