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Leg in cast, Bihar Anganwadi worker still on toes
PATNA: Vimla Devi, an anganwadi worker (AWW) who turned a widow at 31 years of age, some 15 years back, is an example for others.
PATNA: Vimla Devi, an anganwadi worker (AWW) who turned a widow at 31 years of age, some 15 years back, is an example for others.
With her left leg in cast, after she fell and dislocated her bone, she hobbled to around 180 households, as part of the door-to-door survey initiated by the Bihar government last month to check for respiratory distress and influenza-like illness, which are associated with symptoms of coronavirus. The massive survey, which was earlier confined to only four districts, has now been extended to cover all 38 districts of the state.
Draped in white sari, with red border, holding documents on a clipboard, she preferred taking a stick as a crutch to the helping hand extended by an auxiliary nursing midwife who accompanied her during the house-to-house survey.
“I realised if I take leave, people in my area (the slum area adjacent to Patna Electricity Supply Undertaking quarters near New Secretariat area) will suffer. Given the adverse circumstances because of the coronavirus pandemic, I decided not to leave my people when they needed me the most,” said Vimla.
“People in my area trust me. They will not allow any AWW other than me to administer polio drop or any other vaccination to their young children. It is a question of trust. I knew if any other AWW was drafted in my place to survey the area, many people may have been left out of the survey,” she added.
Vimla stays in a one-room shanty near Lalit Bhawan on Bailey Road in Patna because she cannot afford a pucca house. Having lost her husband Vijay Kumar Singh early, she has three children — a 23-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 22 and 18, who are pursuing their studies. All she gets from the government is a monthly stipend of Rs 5,650 a month to ensure that the government’s social welfare programme reach the last man in queue.
“Had my father not supported me, I wouldn’t have been able to survive with my children, leave aside educating them. Today, my daughter takes some private tuition of young children to keep the hearth of our house burning,” said Vimla.
“Vimla was adamant to work, despite our willingness to grant her leave,” said Patna district programme officer Bharti Priyamvada, who is with the integrated child development services, an arm of the social welfare department.
“She is a very active, dedicated and responsible worker who has never shied away from any responsibility entrusted upon her. She is not scared of any adversity too. In fact, I had granted her leave, but she did not avail of it,” said Renu Kumari, who is the child development project officer, Patna Sadar 1.
Vimla’s zeal and dedication to work has won her accolades.
Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi was the first to acknowledge Vimla’s unflinching contribution through a tweet in which he shared the AWW’s photograph. Bihar’s principal secretary health, Sanjay Kumar, retweeted it from his personal Twitter handle, saluting her indomitable spirit. The likes on social media haven’t stopped pouring in ever since.
