Gram panchayat elections to be conducted for the first time in three decades in a model village Hiwre Bazar of Ahmednagar district on January 15. This drought prone village by its efforts on rural transformation and water harvest, has received the status of being a model village. Additionally, last month the village was suffering from COVID with more than 50 cases with zero cases today.
To avoid conflict the village took a collective decision on who will run the gram panchayat till the 2015 polls, the village took a collective decision on who will run the gram panchayat.
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The village head, Popatrao Pawar, who was holding the position for the last 30 years said, “a collective and consensus approach was always the strength of this village, which helped Hiwre Bazaar emerge as a role model in rural development. Still, we believe in democracy and elections are a part of the process.”
The village amid COVID-19 took a step of creating 4-5 groups to check on COVID positive people and within two days the whole families of the village checked the oxygen level, temperature and the symptoms.
The people of the village who were suspected of the virus voluntarily came forward and were quarantined for 15 continuous days.
Before COVID came in the picture the villagers had the habit of washing hands and sanitising the toilets regularly, which they believe is one of the biggest contributions that helped in the pandemic situation.
