MYSORE: Joining a global giant like Infosys is a dream for many. Young urban graduates don't want to work for the rural populace. But 28-year-old S Pavithra Guruprasad, who served as a trainee and got the 'Most dedicated worker in the system' in Infosys in Mysore, quit her job to join as a Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) under the Department of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development to serve the rural people and make Gandhiji's Gram Swaraj concept come true.
In hardly five months, Pavithra has brought a number of changes in Mosambayanahalli (M B Halli) GP in Mysore taluk and has earned the affection of the villagers.
M B Halli GP comprising seven villagesJanthagalli, Kiralu, Marshettahalli, T M Hundi, Sajje Hundi and Yandahalli is located about 16 km from Mysore city.
Pavithra, an MBA from ICFAI University, Tripura, leaves her home from Alanahalli, near the city everyday at 5.30 am to reach her panchayat early morning to monitor the cleaning works that commence from 6 am. She continues work till evening 6 pm.
The villagers thought she was a cleaning contractor, when she visited the panchayat after taking charge as PDO.
What Pavithra did
Conducting gram sabha regularly, field visits to all villages, facilitating vaccination for pregnant women and children, taking up cleaning work, improving the literacy rate and concentrating on electric and plumbing works and basic infrastructure are her first priorities, she said.
She said that she has been performing her duties with the support of ZP CEO G Sathyavathi, deputy secretary Gopal and executive officer Mahalingappa, who were ready to encourage her.
She has come out with innovative ideas to maintain transparency in the rural administration.
Witness Book, is one such record introduced by her to take the inventory of electric items used to maintain street lights. If there is any work attended to by a line man, he should record it in the Witness Book and get it certified by the villager.
She saved about Rs 40,000 by bringing scavengers from the city to M B Halli in her vehicle, as scavengers demand more wages in the villages. She spent the money saved to purchase a water pumpset for Kiralu village.Appreciating the support of her husband Guruprasad, who works as a deputy manager in a bank, Pavithra strongly emphasised the need to reach out government schemes to beneficiaries.
Pavithra joined Infosys, Mysore, in 2007 and worked for one-and-a-half-years. She worked in Infosys, Pune for about 11 months but later quit the company to join as a PDO in 2010.