The winds of change can be felt in one of the most Naxal-affected districts of India. Once counted among the least developed district, Sukma in Chhattisgarh is now witnessing change of behavior among the villagers. They have started coming forward to avail the basic facilities provided by the district administration.
Up till now, two camps have been set up by the district administration under the guidance of District Magistrate Vinit Nandanwar. The camps, which provide facilities like making Aadhar card, Ayushman health card, ration card etc. for the villagers, has seen a good footfall and now more and more people are arriving here.
REACHING OUT TO THE VILLAGERS
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, the District Magistrate of Sukma Mr Vinit Nandanwar said “Places like Konta and other highly Naxal affected areas in the district have seen lack of basic facilities like transportation, electricity, internet etc. Due to this, many essentials like Aadhar card, health card, ration card cannot be made available to the people living here.”
“When electricity and other facilities reached in one of such villages in the district, people started coming forward before the administration with more demands. We then started these special camps, which were organized in areas where basic facilities were not available. We pick up people from the village and bring them to these camps, where food and other facilities are also provided to them”, he added.
People who do not have Aadhar cards, pension registration, Ayushman health cards and ration cards are provided the same on the spot. Apart from this, other facilities which they are lacking in are also addressed by the officials present in these camps.
SPECIAL CAMPS
The district administration of Sukma had organized two special camps in the district, one in Silger and the other one at Kankerlanka. According to the data provided by the administration, in Silger 2002 people were benefitted with Aadhar cards, 593 with ration cards, 264 with Ayushman health cards and 45 with pension registration.
Mr. Nandanwar said, “A good response came the local public as more than 15,000 people showed up in this camp. Similarly, around the same number of people turned up in Kankerlanka camp as well.’’
As per the DM, the third camp will be organized in Palnar village. He said, “Through this, we will reach more affected areas in the district.”
THE BENEFITS
The main aim of the administration while carrying out this initiative was to provide all the schemes and services of the government to the people. Mr. Nandanwar said, “We are opening Anganwadi centre and PDS shops in such areas and trying to reach the remotest areas in the district. Now after setting up two camps in the district, we have seen a huge change in the mindset of people as earlier people use to show no interest in such initiatives. This is helping us in gaining trust of the locals as benefits are reaching directly to them.”
There is a complete change in the villages where these special camps were set up, as earlier as the conditions there were completely different. People turning up in such huge numbers is itself is a huge achievement for the administration.
