Two young sarpanches bag top honours for being the change

Times of India: Rajkot: Saturday, 17 January 2015.

These two village sarpanches who are in the prime of their youth have proved themselves to be agents of change in their respective villages.

While 21-year-old Bha dresh Vamja used right to information (RTI) to ush er in a change in Saldi vil lage in Liliya taluka of Amreli district, 30-year old Himanshu Patel has worked relentlessly in Punsari village of Sabar kantha district to develop it into a model village.

Both of them are among the six youngsters whose efforts have been recognized. They have been awarded “Uccha Shikshit Adarsha Yuva Sarpanch' award at a function held in Pune two days ago by Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad Founda tion under the chairmanship of former chief election commissioner T N Seshan.

“I started filing RTI applications three years ago,’’ said second year law student Vamja who has set up a single window system in his panchayat to help people avail government benefits.

“We have set up a system where villagers just have to come and tell their requirements. I keep myself updated with latest government schemes and notifications and we keep all forms ready in our office for beneficiaries. They just have to sign and provide the required documents,’’ he ex plained. During his 17 months as sarpanch, Vamja has overhauled several systems.

Vamja had tenaciously used RTI to fight corruption.

Patel on the other hand has helped provide all the facilities which the government is envisaging under its Rurban concept.

The village has WiFi connectivity and closed circuit television cameras are fitted at various places including the schools.

The streets are lit by LED lights and the roads are those of reinforced cement concrete. The villagers are provided reverse osmosis treated drinking water.

Punsari also boasts of an internal bus service. There is also a central public address system in place to communicate things with the villagers. “When I became the sarpanch the panchayat was debt ridden. I used money provided from various grants to install all these facilities,” said Patel. Advocating participation of youth in politics, he added, “ This entry should start from villages. It is good for the development of villages and also the country.”