Gadge Meenakshi’s efforts resulted in Mukhra village in Telangana being open defecation-free, solar-powered, and an oasis of greenery. How did she make it occur? The sarpanch stocks.
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Sarpanch Gadge Meenakshi’s adventure is a testomony to discovering a window of alternative in adversity. The top of fashion village Mukhra in Telangana has dedicated her tenure as sarpanch to reworking this rural heartland into one booming with possible. As any individual who grew up on this village, Meenakshi noticed the cruel realities from a tender age.
In a prior interview with The Higher India, she articulated this, highlighting the deficient drainage gadget — “Steadily, drains would overflow at the pathways, making it tough to transport about. This could additionally turn into a breeding floor for mosquitoes”, loss of instructional amenities — “I needed to commute 11 km day-to-day to university”, and the issue of docs leaving the village because of deficient healthcare infrastructure.
Lawsuits of the villagers would fall on deaf ears.
So, when Meenakshi was once elected as sarpanch in 2019, she made up our minds to turn the script. Her efforts have been directed against removing open defecation, establishing soak pits in each space to forestall water leakage, and stay mosquitoes at bay, turning rainy waste into vermicompost — the sale of which is incomes the village lakhs — and putting in rooftop photo voltaic panels.
Now not most effective does Mukhra generate 0 electrical energy expenses, however it has additionally bagged 5 nationwide awards and popularity from President Droupadi Murmu.
However as Meenakshi emphasises, all of it started with a dream to look her village do higher.
Right here’s her tale:
Edited through Pranita Bhat