Abhay Kumar Patil in Kaveri Nagar: ‘Shramdan’ is his motto'

Source The Hindu
Cleanliness drive: Abhay Kumar Patil, MLA (left), making way for stagnant water at Kaveri Nagar in Belgaum South constituency that he represents.

Residents of Kaveri Nagar in Belgaum South constituency were in for a surprise on Sunday morning.

Abhay Kumar Patil, two-time MLA from the constituency, was seen making way for stagnant water that had accumulated on a long stretch of a road. A few residents of the area, including women, joined hands with him in the drive. In sharp contrast to many of his counterparts who are busy attending felicitation functions, Mr. Patil engages himself in some development work at least once in a day.

Mr. Patil has been successful in developing the two model villages of Hulikavi and Jafferwadi in the erstwhile Bagewadi constituency which he represented in the previous Assembly.
He also kicked off the process for the third village of Gejapati in the same constituency.
Mr. Patil is now looking forward to developing all localities, including slums, in Belgaum South constituency into model colonyies.

Since he feels that the corporation or local municipalities do not offer much help in keeping the city clean, Mr. Patil has started involving people in the “shramdan.”
By leading the voluntary service, Mr. Patil has been motivating people not to depend on municipal workers.

On Tuesday, he held a meeting with Belgaum City Corporation officials, and proposed to take up a pilot project to develop one of the slums into a model colony.
If it turns out to be successful, the project will be extended to other localities in Belgaum South.