Rasta Kholo Abhiyan (open the roads)

[Nayantara]

Encroachment can happen anywhere but action against it is mostly done on private property. Very seldomly do we see any action taken on public property- especially roads. This could be because of the levels of bureaucracy one has to go through to do so. But in one of the villages, there was a ‘Rasta Kholo Abhiyan’ (open the roads) campaign against the encroachment of roads.

The village is small with about 200 houses (approx 1000 people). The local community had perhaps initiated a movement to clear up the roads- including kutcha roads and footpaths. It is likely that the panchayat had a role, but this needs to be verified. The ‘Rasta Kholo Abhiyan’ campaign was to open up the earthen roads that are encroached by farmers so that there is space for two-way vehicular movement. We will be re-visiting the village to find out more about the campaign, and about a lake (with a large catchment) that is relatively encroached upon, to understand the institutional setup that governs this lake. Prima facie there would appear to be a degree of awareness and mobilization on managing encroachment in this village, with lessons for other communities and villages.

[Pooja Chandran]

So interesting! Where is this village?

[Purnendu Kavoori]

This village is by name akhawas in Nagaur Rajasthan. It’s located in the border between nagaur, ajmer and Pali. We visited the village today to know more of the initiative. It took place some two year ago and was undertaken by the panchayat the sarpanch lives in another village so we could not find much except that there still is a lot of competitive encroachment among powerful obc castes.

[Nayantara]

A photo of a sign in the village

[Author]

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