Kokolu Bujjaiah is a small farmer in Puttamraju Kandriga , the village in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district that was adopted by cricketer-turned-MP Sachin Tendulkar under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in November 2014. Bujjaiah grows lemon in his one-acre farm that has about 100 small trees, and the meagre sum he earns from selling them in nearby Gudur is hardly enough to see his family of four through. He works as a daily wage labourer and rears sheep to supplement his income.

Mention Sachin’s name and Bujjiah’s weather-beaten face breaks into a big smile. “We’re grateful to him for providing us with modern facilities,” says the poor farmer. “What we need now is means for a stable livelihood.”

Venkatamma is a member of a nomadic Scheduled Tribe; she lives with her family in an asbestos-roofed shack that passes off for a house. Interestingly, her shack has a small colour TV and a cable connection. Spotting us in the village, she asks: Could we recommend that she be sanctioned ₹1 lakh more for building a pucca house in the land given to her by the government?

Venkatamma and 44 other ST families were sanctioned ₹1.5 lakh each under a government housing scheme to build one-room houses with a concrete roof, and a toilet, two years ago. They refused to accept this assistance demanding ₹2.5 lakh each so that they could add an extra room.

A development story Bujjaiah and Venkatamma are two sides to the story of the development of a village with 399 people. Aspirations have been kindled for a better life, even if they appear unreasonable as in the case of Venkatamma. Or for that matter the more than 50 young men who would rather plead for a low-paying government job that is unavailable, than take up better ones in private companies.

The quality of life in the village has visibly improved thanks to the development but what the villagers want is a better standard of living which can come only from sustainable earnings and a stable occupation. But first, the story of development itself.

Concrete roads with pavements, an underground sewage system, a toilet in every house, clean water on tap 24 hours, uninterrupted power, a freshwater tank to breed fish, and a primary school building were all part of the initial development of the village.

Added to these now are a 3-acre playground (cost ₹74.25 lakh) and a very spacious community centre built at a cost of ₹1.15 crore. The cricketer has also funded a cremation ground with pucca cement concrete structures.

That’s not all. A computer training centre with four laptops and an internet connection and a micro ATM for simple transactions such as deposits and withdrawal of cash using the Aadhaar-enabled payment system, are the pride of the villagers now. Both have been sponsored by Oxigen, Sachin’s brand partner.

The development of Puttamraju Kandriga cost ₹5.69 crore. Sachin funded ₹2.79 crore of that from his MPLAD funds with the balance coming from the district administration.

The performer Sachin has been among the few Rajya Sabha MPs who have made the best use of the MPLAD funds. Under the scheme, every MP is sanctioned ₹5 crore per annum; nominated MPs such as Sachin are free to choose any place in the country to develop. According to the MPLAD website, Sachin’s record of utilisation of funds released at 77.49 per cent is best among 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha.

Among four MPs who have completed five years of their tenure, Sachin has recommended development works to the tune of ₹21.19 crore (out of a possible ₹25 crore) which is the highest. He has been sanctioned ₹15.57 crore, of which he’s spent ₹13.56 crore in development.

This is proof of how active the MP has been in using the funds he’s entitled to. If only every MP were to use their annual entitlement of ₹5 crore in similar fashion, rural India could be transformed in a matter of just a decade.

A. Md. Imtiaz, Joint Collector and Additional District Magistrate, is the nodal officer who has invested tremendous energy in developing the village after Sachin adopted it.

“Puttamraju Kandriga had no power or drinking water and had dust tracks for roads when we chose it for development,” he says. Today, not only has physical infrastructure been created but social schemes such as Jan Dhan account creation and subsidised cooking gas connections under the State’s Deepam scheme have achieved full penetration in the village. Ditto with Aadhaar enrolment too.

While he has every reason to be satisfied with his work, there’s still one issue that bothers him. And that is the creation of jobs and livelihoods for the people of the village.

A nice man! Imtiaz persuaded companies in Sri City, 80 km away, to provide jobs to eligible people in the village. Though 73 such jobs were created with salaries ranging around ₹8,500-11,000 per month, free food, and accommodation, only 21 people have stayed on. The rest are now petitioning him for government jobs. “They are happier doing menial government jobs that would pay them just ₹6,000 rather than a private sector one that pays double that,” he laments.

And that is the biggest challenge for the local administration. Next only to that is the issue of maintaining the infrastructure created, including the computer training centre and micro ATM, after Sachin’s term as MP ends next year.

As we walked into the elementary school, it was lunch time and the 32 bright-eyed kids in attendance were all holding paper plates with a piece of cake and a vegetable puff. It was a special treat for them from trainee teachers whose last day that was in the school. Usually they are given a mid-day meal of sambar rice with egg curry or dal curry.

We ask the smiling Manohar who’s in the third standard if he knows Sachin. Before he could answer the entire group choruses: “Yes, we know him, he provides water and power in our village... and bathroom”, and then one of them chimes in Telugu: “He’s a nice man”. This compliment must surely rank up there amongst Sachin’s toughest centuries!

Video: https://goo.gl/6mnimV ; Photo gallery: https://goo.gl/O4QWcL

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