It was a Janta Darbar with a difference held today at Hariharganj in Palamu, 70 kms off Daltonganj.
The voice of the commoners reverberated today at the Durbar where DC Palamu Anjaneyulu Dodde took the complaints and grievances of the commoners and gave solutions to it in some cases quite instantly like around half a dozen poor suffering from disability got cheque worth ranging from 5,000 rupees to 20,000 rupees, some got tricycles and some got on the spot sanctions of the widow pension and other pension.
Some three or four lower rung officials got a severe tongue lashing from the DC even to the extent of putting them under suspension.
A woman was bold enough to say a city manager asked for a bribe from her and when DC showed red the city manager just vanished into thin air.
It was a different Janta Darbar as here no one gave any speech. There was no welcome song as one has been seeing in such a programme. It was a direct interaction with the commoners. DC Anjaneyulu Dodde did it single handed. He held the mike to respond to the queries of the commoners. There was no vote of thanks. It was the DC who told the gathering he would come again here at Hariharganj.
Women spoke well and they outnumbered the males. There was no hesitation on their faces. The rustic women introduced themselves like any educated woman.
The middlemen who used to almost hijack the Janta Durbars were out and down at Hariharganj. The applicants were the narrators. The middlemen knew their role was finished at least for this Janta Darbar.
A villager became the cynosure to all as he was tipsy and out of the frame of mind. He in his raised voice cried if it was the Janta Darbar. The security personnel frisked him from the venue. Dodde asked the gathering if it approves the behaviour of this tipsy man, the gathering gave an impression of disapproval.
There came an applicant introducing himself as a farmer. Dodde asked him if he really was the farmer as he was in trendy T-shirt and pants. The man found it hard to repeat his claim to be a farmer.
There came an HIV positive woman. She did not speak. Her male neighbour spoke for her. As this HIV positive woman was a registered one in Bihar's Gaya, she was not getting medicines here.
Dodde asked the Red Cross Society official to hand over a cheque of Rs 20,000 to this HIV positive woman on the spot. The civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar was asked to ensure this HIV positive woman starts getting medicines at the MMCH Daltonganj.
A piquant case came up. It was of a man who holds dual residentialship of Bihar and Jharkhand. This man claimed he has his house here in Hariharganj Jharkhand and in Bihar and he has a right to have government ration. Dodde asked the civil supplies officials to look into it.
There was one thing missing in the Janta Darbar. There was no arrangement for the drinking water for a gathering of 300 people or so when it was too hot and humid. There were a dozen tables laid there to double up as stalls but it presented a chaotic look as the tables were cheek by jowl.
Shailesh Kumar Singh Nazareth deputy collector was the officer who in fact saved the gathering from becoming restive as the applicants were asked to have a receipt copy of their complaint.
