LPG connections brighten up lives of tribal villagers
   Date :07-Jul-2019

A tribal woman receiving LPG connection. 
 
 
 
Staff Reporter:
 
CMRDF’s timely intervention and monitoring helps remote tribal villagers from Gadchiroli district get 200 LPG connections 
 
Everybody is aware of the many deadly consequences of cooking over open fires the data suggest that more than three billion people around the world cook their food and heat their homes with open or barely contained fires, and while the smoke dissipates quickly, its accumulated costs are steep. Smoke-gritty, eye-watering smoke that sticks in the throat and provokes deep, scratchy coughs wasn’t new for the people from Jepra village from district of Gadchiroli.
 
Everyone notices the smoke, but it’s a familiar annoyance and compared with the daily challenge of affording food and fuel, it’s a minor one. Under the Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation (MVSTF), it was the Chief Minister Rural Development Fellow (CMRDF) Ashwini Jattiwar who emerged as an agent of change in the small and remote tribal villages of Jepra and Rajgatmal. Deputed in the village since 2018, she has been closely working with the villagers and identifying key issues and challenges. The major problem was none of the families had a LPG connection and totally relied on wood for cooking. Usage of wood had a two-way impact – health and environment.
 
The entire village was engulfed in smoke with villagers totally dependent on wood as the only alternative for fuel. Initially, after understanding the problems, Ashwini conducted an intense and focused baseline survey and understood the real issue at hand. After the survey, she found out that the villagers had no gas connections and there was serious absence of any document to procure a gas connection. The first task was to make a list of beneficiaries and systematically get all the documents for the villagers so that they qualify to get gas connections.
 
After identifying the beneficiaries and securing their ration cards the next step was to identify the scheme and ensure all are benefited by it. Later, she found out that even after applying for gas connection they have not got it. She started with making a list of gas beneficiaries of the village. Following an inquiry into the gas connection office, it was understood that under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, ration card holders can get gas connections. Initially 15 to 20 people from the village submitted the documents and gave it to the gas agency office. After getting informed about this, the ration shopkeepers then started accepting applications of beneficiaries.
 
Ashwini found out that many gas connections are required in the village. She once again intervened and helped villagers submit their application papers to ration shops. About 200 beneficiaries have got gas connections in these two villages in the form fee of just Rs 100. It was a timely intervention and monitoring by Ashwini that has impacted lives. The people of the village had to go to the woods every day. The trees would get cut on a large scale.
 
For the record typical cooking fire produces about 400 cigarettes’ worth of smoke an hour, and prolonged exposure is associated with respiratory infections, eye damage, heart and lung disease, and lung cancer. Not only this, this axle could have the potential to cause lung disease. Speaking on the occasion, Vijay Rathod, Chief Executive Officer, Gadchiroli, said, “Timely intervention, monitoring and proper execution of the scheme by the fellow has ensured 200 gas connections for the tribal villagers. This is the first step of the villages getting rid off smoke which majorly affects health and environment. Also, the able participation of the villagers in the initiative and subsidy of Rs 400 via direct bank transfer has resulted in getting the connection at Rs 100.”