In the fleet of young IAS officer of Jharkhand 2011 batch, Dr Neha Arora is gradually winning accolades from residents of Garhwa as Deputy Commissioner. Originally hailing from Faridkot in Punjab, the officer is an MBBS from Government Medical College Patiala. Arora is said to be efficiently implanting the development schemes in the district and have managed to strike the right chord among rural masses of the district for their cooperation and better results. The Garhwa DC took out some time to have a tête-à-tête with The Pioneer about her vision and plans for the development of the district.
How successful is the government’s ambitious Yojna Banao Abhiyan in GarhwaIJ
Arora: Yojna Banao Abhiyan is to ensure participation of rural dwellers in farming development plans at the panchayat level. Under this scheme the administration is go to them and ask what they need. The programme is focusing on building canals, toilets, cattle rearing, horticulture sheds and eradicating malnutrition. Under this scheme funds are garnered from 14th finance commission and MGNREGA. Under the programme district administration has taken up development works at several gram panchayats in the district.
What steps have been taken to make blocks Open Defecation FreeIJ
Arora: The district administration has taken up several steps to motivate the people for construction of toilets. Awareness programmes have been launched to encourage them to adopt healthy habits. Under the programme we connected with the women who are facing several problems in absence of toilets. Those who continued to defy the authorities would be made an example of by garlanding them publicly. Administration wants that people make demand for toilet construction themselves. Women would also connect to the Self Help Groups in toilets construction work campaign. Awareness level is rising among peoples as 12 women Mukhiyas have recently demanded to include their panchayat in the ODF.
Besides this, toilet construction works are also running in others blocks by MP,MlA fund and MGNREGA work. District administration plans to connect all anganwadi centres, schools, health centres with the toilets facility. later they will connect entire households with the facility.
How many blocks have selected for ODF by the governmentIJ
Arora: In the district six blocks including Danda, Meral, Bardiha, Bisunpura, Ketar and Sagma blocks have been selected by the Government for ODF under Swachh Bharat Mission and fixed target to declare ODF by March 2017. But district administration aims to declare Danda block as ODF on October 2 while other five blocks would be declared ODF by December 2016 before the fixed target.
What impact did the recent floods have on peopleIJ What steps taken up for the flood victimsIJ
Arora: About 60 houses were fully and 100 initially damaged in the flood. Assessment of others damage like crops, animals, road, dams is going on. Complete figure expected to come within this month. SDOs who were camping there, provided shelter to the flood victims at permanent structure like school, Anganbadi centers and others buildings and provided them bed and food. Then they tried to restore communication to the cut off villages for medical aid. We have paid `88 lakh among the flood victims for damage under relief fund. Now a fund of `1.20 crores is available in the district. After assessment first the house damage relief money will be paid followed by crops compensation.
Malaria and Diarrhoea is known as killer disease here. What steps have been taken up for prevent the spread of diseaseIJ
Arora: To prevent the disease DDT is sprayed at identified malaria pockets and bleaching powder is left in wells. Besides, awareness programmes have also been launched.
What is being done to empower the women leaders at panchayats.
Arora: In the near future, we plan to take up a programme on training and capacity-building of women leaders to create awareness about their rights and responsibilities as people's representatives. At present under the intensive and non intensive 3219 Self Help Groups (SHG) have been constituted in the district, out of which 3074 are active. District administration is mapping to make 145 SHG.