Khunti, Jul 19: Villagers of Chituram have set an example worth
following by others as they themselves removed the ‘pathalgadi’ stone
which was planted in their village about an year ago and pledged to
work with the local administration to work for the development of the
village.
Prior to that on July 12, 2018 a gram sabha was held in which the
villagers decided that they would remove this pathalgadi and informed
the DC and SDO in this regard. On Thursday under the supervision of
gram pradhan Ashok Munda the villagers removed pathalgadi during which
labour inspector Itwari Mahto and CO Vijay Kumar alongwith villagers
were present. Before removing the stone the villagers performed
traditional rituals and later organised feast in which all of them
participated.
Pathalgadi had been done by the villagers on June 11, 2017. Gram
Pradhan Ashok Munda said that no body has forced them to remove
pathalgadi. He said that after being mislead by outsiders who taught
them wrong interpretation of the constitution they had indulged in
Pathalgadi due to which the villagers could not received benefits of
any government schemes and got away from the development process.
The district administration also lauded the initiative of the
villagers and announced that ‘Chale Vikas Ki Aur’ programme would be
launched from this village on Saturday. SDO Pranab Kumar said that
special plan for the development of the village which he chalked out
and said that since Chituram was teh first village to remove
pathalgadi therefore development in teh village wll be such that it
also inspires other villages to do away with pathalgadi.