Villagers pool in funds to build playground through ‘shramdaan’

Chatra: A playground has been set up on a four-acre land in Dhanayona in Pathalgada area of Chatra district with the help of crowd-funding and resources pooled in by villagers after repeated request to the government for such a facility failed to yield result. The villagers also did shramdaan (voluntary work) to build the ground.
Due to the lack of a playground, children were facing problems to pursue any sport activity. Nongaon panchayat chief Sangita Sinha who led the villagers in this project said Lamboiya and Tetaria villages of Pathalgada had been demanding a playground since long. Now, a huge playground has come up in Dhanayona on the border of both these villages. Locals contributed through donation and crowd-funding and shramdaan.”
Sinha said that initially they decided to apply for government fund for the project. Things moved in the positive direction with MGNREGA fund being planned for this. But then in January, villagers came forward and unanimously decided to make playground on their own to avoid government delays.
Tetaria and Lamboia have 600 houses and contribution came from each of them. “Each household contributed as per their capability and a fund of 15 lakh was pooled in,” she said.
Villagers worked for three months since January to level the land. “Cleaning of the area took maximum time. Villagers worked from morning to evening in group of 100 or more to complete the work in three months,” said the panchyat chief who formally inaugurated the ground ten days ago.
Social worker Rajkumar Dangi said that due to the absence of a playground in both the villages, the youth had to go far away in the forest to play.
“This was difficult for them. It was a collective effort through which bumps and mounds on the ground were levelled and the playground was set up,” he said.