For decades, decision makers did
not take the problem seriously. Resources were misused,
and the problem persisted.
Eventually, women of the village
had to take up the responsibility of solving the problem.
The Shivashakti and Shanti Group
of Motipur was formed in 2005 with the assistance of the
Empowerment Program of Sahakarmi Society, Indrapur, a partner
NGO of LWF Nepal. The purpose of forming the group was to
discuss problems faced by the community and try to identify
solutions. The group also sought to identify available resources
and ways to gather resources from outside.
Murta Harijan, a group member, says
that she was not aware of the importance of such groups
until the group started taking social initiatives. In 2006,
the group identified the Amila canal as the biggest problem
faced by the village.
The group then filed an application
at the VDC office for budget allocation for building a bridge
over the canal. However, the VDC secretary was far from
cooperative. He feared that building the bridge would have
political repercussions as politicians had been using the
problem as a milking cow for a long time. The VDC secretary
asked the group to first get a go-ahead signal from three
local political leaders.
The group discussed whether this
was really needed for building something that would benefit
all villagers. They decided not to take the permission of
the leaders and instead opted to pressurize a local overseer
to estimate the cost of building the bridge, and also constituted
a users' committee, Rand says.
Meena Giri, chief of the users' committee,
says initially villagers teased 49 women and 14 men who
worked together to build the bridge over the canal. "But
today, these same people are using the bridge to cross the
canal and to take their cattle across the canal," Giri
said. Needless to say, people eventually appreciated the
work done by the users' committee.
The group holds active discussions
these days as well. All members have become good orators
by now. Housewives have been increasingly participating
in social work. Men in the village admit that their women
are more constructive and active members of the society.
However, former VDC Chairman Hari
Ram Rand is not amused by these developments. He has even
been threatening to destroy the bridge. But the group of
63 knows that the former VDC chairman will only bark, not
bite.
Ram Dayal Kurmi, who was elected
several times as VDC vice-chairman and chairman in the past,
is also not happy with the developments. He says the way
the women conduct social work is not satisfactory and the
bridge over the canal was not necessary at all.
For obvious reasons, few people listen
to him. They know that he is trying to undermine the women's
contribution to completing a project that had served as
a milking cow for leaders like him since the Panchayat era
(partyless period before 1990 when the king had absolute
powers). In two instalments alone, the leaders had pocketed
Rs 50,000 [US$704] in the name of building the bridge in
the past, villagers say.
Building the bridge was not a cakewalk
for the group, though. There were a lot of procedural hassles,
delays in cost estimation, and delays in budget disbursement
that the group had to put up with. The group was not in
favour of giving even a rupee as bribe. If the practice
of bribing government officials for making them do what
they are paid for by the government continues, how will
the country improve? Questions Sabitri Teli, another group
member.
Teli says after releasing the first
instalment of Rs 10,000 [US$140] the VDC office refused
to release the second instalment stating that the Maoist
insurgents had told them not to release it. Following this,
a dozen women from the group fixed a meeting with the Maoists
and put forth their concerns. It worked. The second instalment
of Rs 20,000 [US$281] was released. The group realized that
the VDC office, under the pretext of Maoist threat, was
asking for bribe.
