THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, March 7: ‘Camp Office,’ the brainchild of the Palamu DC Shashi Ranjan, is evolving as a people’s participation in the administration.
Two such camp offices have been held, one each in two subdivisions, Hussainabad and Chhaterpur, quite recently.
The turnout of the villagers was tremendous. A villager in the Chhaterpur camp office told the Jharkhand Story correspondent, “It’s different from the Sarkar Aap ke Dwar. Here, there are no distractions by way of stalls. Here in the camp office, it’s business. The voiceless are heard.”
Focusing on Overlooked Areas for Development
There is an anecdote about this camp office. The Jharkhand Story correspondent had recently asked the DC Shashi Ranjan that he and his team of officers always looked for development alongside the roads, never bothering that across the railway lines such a development is to be inspected also.
A large number of population lives alongside the railway lines. Some live in prosperity. Many grovel in destitution. The administration is to care for both of them.
DC Shashi Ranjan on hearing this from this correspondent, immediately agreed to have such a trip.
Also Read- Sita Soren narrowly escapes pistol attack by PA in Dhanbad
For the Hussainabad sub-division camp office, there was a plan to reach the location by the passenger train. However, the plan to reach the Hussainabad subdivision by train was put off following the late running of the train. So road journey was preferred to the train journey.
Additional Collector Kundan Kumar told this correspondent that DC Shashi Ranjan was too keen to have a train journey, but the timing of the train didn’t suit their plan.
Water Management, Land Reclamation and Erosion Issues
At the Chhaterpur camp office, officers ran out to see the condition of the rural water supply under orders of the DC Shashi Ranjan. The pre summer exercise for the drinking water in Palamu is a worthy appreciating effort but side-by-side brainstorming should also be done for surface water management.
Where there is a stone-crushing plant, there is a hillock. Chhaterpur is the capital of legal and illegal stone-crushing plants.
There is no rainwater harvesting from the hillocks. Rain water harvesting may be focussed in the camp office.
Similarly, there are huge chunks of fallow lands in Chhaterpur. These fallow lands can be reclaimed to become arable land, urged the people. It is said that if Chhaterpur is sick, Palamu can’t be healthy.
Hussainabad sub division has a typical problem. It’s erosion of highly cultivable land by the river Sone there. This issue is worth sorting out.
