When rowdies attacked a PDO, EO & PO did nothing... This happens only in RDPR

Dear PDOs, though I call this blog ‘Diary of a Panchayath Development Officer’ what I intend to write here won’t necessarily be in chronological order. It’s more than one and a half year since I have created this blog and also since I have left the job as PDO. Due to some preoccupations I couldn’t post/write anything on this blog. I have picked a case of attack on me in my office as the subject of my first ever post on this blog. This incident happened/took place on 13^th January 2011 at around 11am.

Brief details of the background of the case:

            An Ex Vice President of the Haradanahalli Grama Pachayath Smt. Gowramma hails from a village called Kalluveeranakoppalu situated about three kilometres away from the GP HQs. Her son Ramesh alias Raami, believed/rumoured to be a rowdy in Bangalore, has constructed a house at his village. He had laid a water pipeline, without obtaining the mandatory permission from the GP, from one of the mainlines of the public water supply pipe using pipes much bigger in size than allowed by the GP. As a result of this, whenever the waterman turned on the valve to supply the water no water would reach the public taps as all the water would go to the sump of Raami’s house as the pipe laid by him was bigger than the allowed size. So, when people started complaining to waterman about shortage of water he in turn gave a written complaint to me. After thoroughly investigating the matter I issued a notice informing him to remove the oversized pipeline, obtain permission from the GP and then lay a pipeline using the allowed pipe size. Apparently, he didn’t like the notice given by me.

Details of the incident:

            On the morning of 13^th January 2011, he called me up on my mobile and told me that he was coming to the GP with special guests. I could figure out from the sarcasm in his voice that he would bring some rowdies or somebody along with him. I reached the GP at 10am as usual. At around 10-15am Executive Officer and Planning Officer of Taluk Panchayath came to the GP and began asking for some files and started pretending to be checking details of works undertaken under MGNREGA. I was surprised at both the officers visiting the GP together. Because they never visited us before. At around 11am he, Mr. Raami, along with his friend Bhaskar, a rowdy-sheeter, came in his white Santro car and they both barged into my office in filmy style and began hurling abuses at me. He questioned me as to what right or power I had to issue him a notice to remove/disconnect the water connection. His contention was that as his mother was once the Vice President of our GP she had all the rights/privileges to have water connection without the GPs permission. Even EO and Planning Officer began questioning me as to why I issued the notice only to a few people while most of the water connections in all the villages were illegal. I told them that I had issued notices to only those persons against whom complaints were received. Both the rowdies began pushing me around in the office while the EO and PO kept quite. Finally, some youths from among the public present in the GP intervened after which they both left along with the EO and PO.

            So, dear friends, see how our senior officers who are supposed to protect us connive with the local rowdies/pudaris for their own benefit. This is because most of the Executive Officers are outsiders. They are not from RDPR. They are from other departments. They come to Taluk Panchayaths only to make money. So, please be careful with such outsiders.

To watch the video, please click here.