BENGALURU: This MGNREGA worker did not change his shirt for nearly three years. Not because of any superstition. His mission was to get a 21-acre tank sanctioned for his village in Belagavi district. He was so committed that he vowed not to change his shirt to remind him of his mission every single day. After running from pillar to post, he finally succeeded and he changed his shirt only after 1,035 days.
Jyotiba Manawadkar (48), the farmer-turned-MGNREGA worker, made it his mission to get the tank which will help irrigate 3,000 acres of land. Currently, farmers in his village depend on the monsoon.
Hailing from Handiganur, around 16km from Belagavi. Jyotiba, a tenth passout, has 35 guntas of land where he grows groundnut and potato. He stays with his wife and three children. There are some 350 to 400 MGNREGA workers in his panchayat.
It all started in 2015 when the workers in Handiganur were given work for one year in their panchayat limits. These workers would walk and go to their work place. But later, they were given work at Ambewadi and Halaga, which were quite far from their village. They had to spend some Rs 25 to Rs 30 on a tempo to travel to their work place.
“After working for an entire day, spending our hard-earned money on the tempo was something we could ill afford. I thought the tank project would help MGNREGA workers. That’s when I spoke to our villagers to see if any government land was available in our panchayat limits. After doing some ground work, I got the information that there was 43.3 acres of land,’’ he said.
Jyotiba approached Gautam Bagadi, CEO of Belagavi Zilla Panchayat, who suggested a special Grama Sabha. The village body passed a resolution to construct a tank at Handiganur. But later nothing happened. “A local officer did not send the resolution copy to the Zilla Panchayat office for further approval. I hired a tempo, along with 25 MGNREGA workers and gave a memorandum and the resolution copies to the Taluk and Zilla panchayats, the Tahsildhar and the Deputy Commissioner. Again nothing happened,” he said.
And he became the butt of jokes in his village. “In March 2017, I decided not to wear a new shirt till the tank work was sanctioned. I would wear the shirt the entire day, wash it in the night and again wear it the next morning. I did this almost for three years. The collar and sleeves were torn and buttons broken. I would patch it up and wear it. I went to government offices wearing the same shirt several times and some employees there would make fun of me and my shirt.
I was not ashamed. All All I wanted was to get the work sanctioned,’’ he said. “On January 24, I got a call from MLA Satish Jarkiholi’s office saying that the government has approved to construct a tank in my place. I was having my dinner and along with the plate I started dancing with joy. After a couple of days, I went to Jarkiholi’s place to thank him. “The MLA got me a brand new shirt costing Rs 1,200, the costliest shirt I have,” he said. The foundation-laying ceremony was scheduled on March 30, but was postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic.