The author was transferred from the post of additional collector to Chindwara District as the Collector but in two-three days the order was changed and I was shifted to Betul District instead, due to the request of the incumbent collector Mr. J.L Bose to continue there for a while. I quietly followed the directions of the government and joined at Betul replacing Mr. Nanneh Singh who stayed there for three years.
Betul was my first independent charge as the full-fledged collector. I joined there in the month of October, 1977 and continued till June, 1979. The life’s mission was to be a collector in any case. Since it materialized in 1977 my joy found no bounds and my soul and body were fixed on duty in full swing.
I did take interest in all the activities of the collector and in addition I took several new initiatives in different directions. First of all I intensified my genuine tours to all parts of the district and made night halts for almost 15 – 20 days in a month. Betul being a tribal district my goal was to visit the interior parts and do some solid work for them. I selected the most backward development block namely Bhimpur block which was more than 100 KMs from Dt. HQrs and took up general development of that area up to Dhamjipura, the furthest point in the district near Maharashtra border by all the government departments. I started tent touring for the first time in my career for the stay and work – day & night in the tents taken out from the district ‘Nazarat’ and pitched for the purpose. After visiting the border areas adjoining Maharashtra (where in the hillocks the coffee gardens were raised and maintained) during the day-time, the collector and other officials gathered in the evening near the bonfire in front of the rest house and the collector’s tent and discussed threadbare the possibility of new schemes and welfare measures for the tribal population in the presence of villagers and their leaders. After chalking out those targets for the following months and the year, the collector and his team joined the village folk in their enchanting and entertaining folk dances for nearly two hours followed by the dinner served on the teak-leaves squatting on the floor for eating along with some tribal men and sipping their local country-made liquor (except a few officers like the teetotaler collector). The long stretch of the main P.W.D road connecting Betul to Dhamjipura from a junction point, namely, Atner was made an all-weather one for the first time with umpteen numbers of culverts, causeways and small bridges – thanks to the efforts of an enterprising Executive Engineer called Mr. Pamnani who correctly understood the seriousness and the expectations of the collector. The ration shop was activated with minimum scope for pilferage by the owner. The land records were up dated in favour of the legal heirs of the tribal farmers without any harassment from the side of patwaris (Karnams – V.A.Os). A regular bus service was arranged from Dhamjipura to Betul. Small dams and irrigation channels from the small rivers and streams were conceptualized and budgeted for execution. Since the district was covered under D.P.A.P (Drought Prone Area Programme) it became easy for the collector to include such projects for implementation by different implementing agencies. Schools were inspected and buildings renovated and new buildings too were planned for construction in the following months. Many schemes meant for elders, widows and deprived persons and students were taken up by the Panchayat & Social Welfare Department.
Child Welfare:
A Christian missionary establishment at Padhar village on Betul-Bhopal main highway was doing an excellent service to the local community in and around Padhar centre in the area of medical care and public health activities. I found it a pleasure to encourage them in their work. The head of the establishment one Dr Chowdhury who was second to none to understand my eagerness to work for the tribes wholeheartedly took part in public health programme launched by the government. Both Dr Chowdhury and the author/collector devised a crude and practical formula or a device to test whether a child was fully nourished or mal-nutritioned by running down a plastic bangle of a particular diameter. If the bangle easily passes through the arm-joint from the ankle to the entire length of the hand, then the child is declared to be undernourished and the child needed to be cared for separately with adequate quantity of balanced diet for sometime till it recovers to the standard requirements. We used this device extensively when we toured the interior areas together and the same was directed to be adopted by other departmental officials and the community workers of Padhar missionary. The nutritious food provided under World Health Programme was supplied to the needy children as per the government orders.
Rehabilitation of International Refugees:
A few thousands of Bengalis from East Bengal were sent to Shahpur Tehsil in Betul Sub-division for rehabilitation in 1960s and 70s. It was a Herculean task to satisfactorily settle them all in the area as farmers. Day-to-day issues connected with their settlement were to be resolved with the help of a full-time Project Officer stationed at Shahpur. As the collector I had to personally visit the spot and solve their problems. Communal peace and harmony was maintained with a humane approach while steps were taken to settle them with sufficient economic means of livelihood.
Industrial Workers:
Western Coalfields had a huge coal mine under operation near Godadongari producing large quantity of coal for supplying mainly to the thermal plant established at Sarani for generating power by Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board. A few thousand employees as full-time or part-time workers on private contract were working there. Now and then some sort of protest or dharna used to engage the attention of police force and the district administration. A watchful and supportive approach enabled the police chief of the district to keep the workers in good humour and maintain law and order satisfactorily. A good liaison with the authorities of the Coal-fields and Sarani Plant officials by the collector ensured peace in the area.
