G’chiroli cops hold camps to strike chord with students

Nagpur: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the police department organized three-day summer camps for the students between Std I and VIII at sensitive pockets of Maoist-hit Gadchiroli district to develop a rapport with the.
The camps, known as ‘Bal Anand Melawa’, were organized at six places in south Gadchiroli in collaboration with the education department of zilla parishad.
The camps were held on April 22, 23 and 24 at Laheri, Tadgaon, Dhondraj, Nalgonda, Koti and Manne Rajaram. On Tuesday, Gadchiroli collector Shekhar Singh and SP Shailesh Balkawade visited ashramshala school at Laheri where one such camp was underway.
While police have started focusing on the student community, the Maoists have been engaging the youngsters in their work for the last several years. Maoists also nurture their future cadres among the young boys and girls by forming ‘Bal Sangam’ units. They are entrusted with the responsibilities of couriers and also used as shields against security forces.
Balkawade said the camps were being organized as part of the project ‘Prayas’, which is an outreach programme for youths and students of primary and secondary standards. “It was an attempt to draw students closer to the police department, bridging the communication gap and develop a rapport,” he said.
Singh, who was on his fourth visit to Laheri, said the students were thrilled to get water colours for the first time and participated in different group and individual activities. As part of the camp, they were offered lodging and food too.
Apart from the camps, the visits of Singh and Balkawade also proved fruitful for Laheri as a few developmental works picked pace. The works included expediting procurement of an ambulance for the primary health centre (PHC). A micro bank and branch Bank of Maharashtra have also started functioning at Laheri with the help of satellite-based communication system.
Singh said the villagers from Laheri and other adjoining hamlets earlier had to travel 35km for availing banking facilities at Bhamragarh. “The villagers can now perform basic withdrawal and deposit of cash from the mini bank,” he said.
Balkawade said developments of re-surfacing of the road between Dhondraj and Laheri is expected to start soon which is a part of National highway project that has been already sanctioned in the past. “We are trying to ensure the road connectivity between Dhondraj and Laheri is improved before the monsoon,” said the SP.