|
Ahmedabad, March 10: YESTERDAY, Hunkaa village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad got a new police station. Not that personnel posted here will have much to do except twiddle their thumbs. The village, eight km from Naroda, has earned itself a unique distinction — it hasn’t registered a single crime in eight years!
On Tuesday, DGP A K Bhargav presented Sarpanch Shardaben Patel a certificate to honour this achievement during the inaugural function of Kanbha Police Station. Shardaben was justifiably proud. ‘‘Why only eight years? We have forgotten when the police last came to our village. We have been successful in resolving our conflicts at the village level,’’ says she. In every village, quarrels over water sharing and tree felling as well as thefts from fields end up at the police station. But not so at Hunkaa.
Of the population of 1,200, 75 per cent are Thakores, while the other 25 per cent comprise Patels, Harijans, Vaghris and other communities. Beaming with pride, Shardaben told Express Newsline that the village boasted of cent per cent literacy. The few who are landless earn their livelihoods by working in industries nearby. It is not that trouble does not erupt or nobody has a grievance against another, she says. ‘‘We have succeeded in solving the problem at the panchayat level by bringing together aggrieved parties so that they arrive at a solution which is agreeable to both,’’ explains Shardaben.
It is her third year as sarpanch and she says she’s never encountered a a situation in which villagers have not honoured the panchayat. ‘‘We convince parties that legal matters are full of hassles and take a lot of time, energy and money, and most of them agree to the panchayat’s solution,’’ she says. If parties are dissatisfied still, the elders in the village try to knock some sense into them. ‘‘Elders are respected and their words carry weight in the village,’’ says the sarpanch.
Shardaben says the entire village is God-fearing. ‘‘Young and old attend the satsang programmes held every evening in the village,’’ says she. ‘‘We have always had a harmonious atmosphere in the village. There is only one Muslim family in the village but it lives without fear,’’ says Jassubhai, Shardaben’s husband.
While other villages organise 10 different garbas on Navratri, Hunkaa, organises only one big garba where even the Harijans and Vaghris dance.
Hassanbhai Mansuri agrees with Jassubhai. ‘‘We are invited to each and every marriage ceremony. I also invited the entire village when my two sons got married. I can drink water at everybody’s house much the same way as they can do at my place,’’ explains 60-year-old Mansuri who is a farmer. ‘‘The most important point is that villagers here are very strict about liquor and do not tolerate its sale. Liquor is the root of most trouble in rural areas,’’ adds Mansuri.
Ganaji Budhaji Vaghri rears goats and does odd jobs in the village but has no complaints of discrimination. ‘‘We are not despised because we are Vaghris,’’ he says.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ahmedabad range, A K Sharma, was all praise for Hunkaa describing it as a modern Utopia. He attributed to the crack down on liquor. ‘‘In my previous postings, I have heard of village leaders having taken the lead in opposing liquor. This often leads to a reduction in crime,’’ he says. |