Kalyani Kullu (left) Telegraph picture
Ranchi: A tribal woman has set an example of voluntary land donation in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.
Kalyani Kullu, a resident of Kochedega a village in Simdega district, donated an acre free to the district police for setting up a police station in a region scarred by battling Maoists.
She and her three sons are all farmers.
Simdega police on March 13 felicitated Kullu and her sons Basant, Nutan and Bhushan at the district headquarters and 150km southwest of Ranchi, the state capital. More than 2,000 people, including Simdega legislator Vimla Pradhan attended the function.
People played traditional instruments and even sang ” Aapan ghar mein thana ailo re (a police station has come home).”
Simdega Superintendent Police Rajeev Ranjan Singh said their community policing initiatives to build trust in villages had finally borne fruit. The one acre would help them set up the police station that would help more than 20,000 people across Kochedega, Tamra, Sewai, Kullukera and Taisera panchayats.
Kullu and her sons, the police official told The Telegraph, have not only donated one acre, but set a unique example to fight Maoists and control crime in the area.
According to him, the land would cost 1 million rupees. “I signed the registration papers on behalf of governor Droupadi Murmu,” Singh added.
Way back in 2008, the state cabinet had approved setting up police stations in the area, but getting land proved the big stumbling block. Though police stations in Mahabuang, Rengari and Pakartand did come up, the police had to face resistance from people, including roadblocks, which allegedly were masterminded by rebels, even though they had government land.
About six weeks ago, people of Kochedga panchayat approached SP Singh and invited him to look at Kalyani’s land adjoining the government plot. “They told us the family was ready to provide surplus land adjoining our government plot,” said the SP. “We thought it was too good to be true. But, it was actually true. They are not rich landowners, they are a modest farming family but with a big heart,” Singh said.
He added the plot is on Simdega-Kurdeg road that leads to Kunkura in Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh. “The place is of tactical importance,” the SP stressed.
One of the vegetable belts of Jharkhand, the area grows paddy and wheat too, but in smaller quantities. A year ago, Maoists had killed two villagers suspecting them of being supporters of People’s Liberation Front of India, another leftwing underground group. Extortion threats are common in the area.
“But now, thanks to this living example of a family reposing its faith in the police, the thana (police station) and the gesture will have a far-reaching impact in fighting Naxalism,” Singh added.