Despite heavy rain, crowds throng Gadkari's public grievance meeting in Nagpur
Union minister Nitin Gadkari heard out citizens' complaints in the rain, deferred two scheduled programmes and ordered officials to act
It had been raining heavily since Sunday morning in the Mahal area of Nagpur, but this had no effect on Union minister Nitin Gadkari's public grievance programme. As always, large numbers of Nagpur residents arrived at Gadkari Wada with their problems. Some carried memorandums of complaints and demands, while others came to thank Gadkari for getting earlier work done. A few had come only to convey Ganeshotsav greetings.
It had initially been expected that the heavy rain would keep the crowd smaller than usual, but the opposite happened. Despite the rain, people's enthusiasm did not flag, and they stood in queues waiting their turn. Seeing citizens waiting in the rain like this, Nitin Gadkari decided to postpone two of his already scheduled programmes and meet them first. In front of the officials present, he heard out citizens' problems one by one and immediately gave the concerned department officials the necessary instructions, so that people would not have to stand and wait in the rain for too long.
During the meeting, citizens handed Gadkari memorandums on various problems related to roads, agriculture, education and hospitals. On every issue, Gadkari sought immediate information from the officials present and asked them to take necessary action. Officials from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, NIT, the district collector's office, the health department, the police, the Setu office, Mahavitaran, the South Central Zone Cultural Centre and the CRC were present at the programme. Gadkari made it clear that citizens' problems should not be taken lightly and that steps should be taken immediately to resolve them.
Some people who attended had earlier had issues resolved with Gadkari's help, and they came specially to thank him. Office-bearers of various Ganesh mandals from the city also came to meet Gadkari, wishing him for Ganeshotsav and inviting him to their respective mandal's Ganeshotsav programmes. That such large numbers turned out despite the heavy rain shows that at this public grievance programme, local problems carry as much weight as people's personal and social concerns.
