DEHRADUN: Hailing from a family of freedom fighters in Uttarakhand, Shveta Mashiwal (38) has been a radio jockey and an ad filmmaker. But after her elder brother died in an accident in 2011, she quit her job and immersed herself into social service. A decade later, she is ready to take the poll plunge so that she can serve her state better.
On campaign trail in Nainital’s Ramnagar, the 38-year-old, who is contesting the seat as an independent, gets upset over potholed roads hear the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve. “Corbett is the ‘Kohinoor’ in terms of tiger density and this is the condition of the roads here. BJP and Congress have failed to build proper roads despite the fact that tourism is the backbone of our state,” says Mashiwal.
“The spirit of service and people’s welfare has disappeared from politics. Every party is after seizing power and accumulating wealth. No one cares about basics such as health, education, roads.” From organising health camps to arranging food, medicines and hospital admissions in times of crisis and filing PILs for addressal of issues like lack of health and education infrastructure and rampant drug abuse, there’s nothing that Mashiwal has not done to make people’s lives better.
Her team has provided help to Covid-hit people, especially in remote and rural areas. The team also played a key role to bring back 12,000 migrants during the first lockdown. Mashiwal has been doing her bit for society. Whether the voters will pay back or not remains to be seen.