Collector with a heart comes down from office to meet 87-yr-old farmer

Collector Rajendra Bhosale meets Chandrakant Deshmukh

If you thought the bureaucracy is full of heartless people who are bothered only about their posts and their work, think again. When an 87-year-old farmer from a village in Solapur travelled 50km to meet the collector, he realised he couldn't climb up the two-storeyed district headquarters building, to do so. That is when Collector Rajendra Bhosale himself went down to meet the elderly Chandrakant Deshmukh.

Deshmukh and his 45-year-old daughter, Sharmila, are awaiting nearly R8 crore compensation from the government, as part of their family land was acquired by the administration for road widening.

'Harassed by local official'
However, the family claims that to claim the compensation amount, they are unnecessarily being made run to run from pillar-to-post by one of the local tehsil officials. Fed up with several visits to the tehsil office and with no solution in sight, the octogenarian made up his mind to escalate the issue with the collector.

The collector's office, Solapur

The farmer along with his family members travelled nearly 50 km to reach the district headquarters, about 10 days back. But on reaching the collector's office, the elderly person realized that due to his fragile health, it would not be possible for him to climb the staircase and make it to the collector's office.

"My father was dejected. We thought we would have to return home. But that was not the case. The collector himself came downstairs and assured my father that the family will not have to run around to receive the compensation," Sharmila Deshmukh told mid-day over the phone.

Collector meets farmer
According to the other government officials present in the premises, when the collector came to know about an 87-year-old visitor who was unable to climb the stairs, the IAS officer decided to step out of his office and meet him.

Rajendra Bhosale

Bhosale told mid-day, "I walked down to meet the farmer's family. I heard their grievances and assured them about all possible help in the procedures that need to be followed for release of the compensation amount."

Asked about the harassment meted out to the family, the collector claimed that he would have to verify the complaints before making any comment on the subject. "Some procedures need to be completed before the release of money from the government treasury. It takes time in some cases, especially the verification part of it. In this case, I have instructed my colleagues to expedite the process," Bhosale added.

In 2017 the Deshmukh family parted with their 4 acres and 33 gunta land in Kamatibudruk village of Mohal Taluka for a road-widening project. A year later the government started the widening work of Ratnagiri-Nagpur NH 166. But two years after the land acquisition the family is yet to receive the compensation from the government for the piece of land.

Bhosale has since been appointed Joint MD with the distribution wing of the state electricity board.

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