By IANS,
Ralegan Siddhi (Maharashtra) : The sarpanch (village headman) of activist Anna Hazare’s village is scheduled to meet Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi Tuesday on an invitation from the latter.
“Congress MP E.T. Kamath had visited Ralegan Siddhi earlier this year and he was impressed with the progress of the model village,” sarpanch Jaisingrao Mapari told IANS.
Ralegan Siddhi, in Ahmednagar district, some 280 kms from Mumbai, was reeling under drought, poverty, debt, and unemployment till 1975, when Anna Hazare mobilised the people and started a host of projects.
“He was impressed with the way the village had developed its water shed project and ran the schools and day-to-day activities in a meticulous manner,” he added.
A formal invitation was extended to him and other members of the village to meet Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.
“Gandhi wants to get an idea of how we have been functioning to run a model village and that if our model can be adopted in other villages across the country,” Mapari said.
He said that the other agenda is to discuss the Jan Lokpal bill that is likely to come up in the winter session of parliament.
“Gandhi also wants to discuss with us the implications of such a strong bill,” he said.
Mapari will be accompanied by Ramdas Ugle, trustee of Sant Yadav Shikshan Mandal, a school being run here, and Suresh Pathare, Anna Hazare’s personal assistant, among others.
The village’s biggest achievement is undoubtedly in the area of non-conventional energy.
All the streets in the village are lit by solar lights, each with a separate panel. There are four large community biogas plants and one of them is fitted at the community toilet. A number of households have their own biogas plants.
There is also a large windmill for pumping water.