RR Patil's project of dispute-free village scheme in limbo

The dream project of state home minister, RR Patil, to implement the Mahatma Gandhi dispute-free village scheme seems to be dying a slow death in Pune district. The rural police have apparently forgotten to even distribute Rs19.35 crore amongst the 788 dispute-free villages in the district.

Also, the rural police have appointed only two cops to implement the scheme across the entire district.

In 2010, as many as 788 out of 1,134 villages in Pune district were declared dispute-free. Pleased with its achievement, the state government declared Rs19.35 crore as prize money, which was supposed to be distributed equally among the villages.

There were over 37,000 disputes in these 788 hamlets in 2010.

These included 2,862 civil disputes, 2,050 revenue, 29,675 criminal and 2,677 other disputes, which the villagers resolved amicably without the intervention of the law-enforcing agencies.

This initiative was lauded by the United Nations for its innovativeness and its applicability in 2007.

The other districts of the state have distributed their money. The Pune rural police have given the election code of conduct and Maval firing as reasons for failing to distribute the money.
Superintendent of police SS Solunke told DNA, “I have recently taken charge of the district. I don’t have an idea about what has been done by previous officers. But I have already given instructions to our officer to distribute the money in the next week.’’ 

It is not only the non-distribution of the prize money where the rural police have fallen short, but also the Mahatma Gandhi dispute-free department seems to be facing severe staff shortage, with only two policemen looking after the implementation of the project in the 14 talukas of the district.

Earlier, the department was staffed by an officer of the rank of a senior police inspector and five constables.

A senior police officer attached with the rural police admitted to DNA there is a severe staff crunch in the department. Cops entrusted with the implementation of this programme are supposed to visit villages and conduct meetings under the supervision of local police stations. Given the vast nature of the work involved, this has indeed become a strenuous job.

The scheme, which is operative across the state, was introduced in 2007 in Pune and Raigad districts to resolve small disputes in the villages.

Pratap Dighavkar, the former superintendent of police, who effectively implemented the scheme in the district, told DNA, “This is a very important scheme for the villagers. It has to be implemented effectively and in the right spirit. During my tenure, we had implemented it effectively in the district.  We got key results in many serious crime cases.’’