The people whose lives crisscross the Koyna river in Satara district of Maharashtra know that the government is preoccupied with 'big things' like building flyovers. So matters regarding survival and other things here are left to a man called Balasaheb Kolekar. Every month, 850 families from 22 villages who reside in the hills of western Sahyadris wait for two boats to come sailing to their banks. For the last 10 years, these boats, run by Kolekar's Shramjivi Janata Sahayak Mandal (sjsm), have been carrying rations for the poor villagers who mostly belong to the Dhangar or cowherd community. Life in these parts is very simple. People make do with the bare necessities. And if it were not for these two boats, they'd all go hungry. Two days before the boats set out, two or more villages are informed that ration will be coming to predetermined stops. So, in 10 days, this monthly exercise covers all the 22 villages. This unique service is, of course, free.
The people here were never meant to live like this. After the Koyna dam was completed in 1963, 96 villages around the river were submerged and over 20,000 people displaced. An earthquake in 1967 further drove the villagers to the surrounding hills. What used to be their homes were now islands in a water body. In true sarkari tradition—just like how the aiadmk government in Tamil Nadu gave pots instead of water to people—the Maharashtra government dutifully gave ration cards to the villagers but didn't think of how they'd reach the shop. There were no modes of transport or even roads here. After years of suffering, Kolekar one day took some villagers to the district collector. The collector was shown blank ration cards. "We told him the cards were blank because people couldn't walk to the closest ration shops—24 km away—in the towns of Patan and Koyna. So the rations were being eaten by shopkeepers."
The next day the collector ordered all the ration cards of some 22 villages to be directed to Kolekar's organisation which by then had acquired two boats. Today, the mobile ration shop is perhaps the only one of its kind in the country. Though the rations come from the "vast resources" of the government, the official machinery has nothing to do with the boats. Kolekar got the boats over 15 years ago with a fund of Rs 3 lakh from Swiss Aid and Rs 4 lakh pooled in by various cooperative societies sympathetic to his cause. Before he began distributing rations, Kolekar's boats were used to ferry people across, collect milk from small-time diary farmers and to train fishermen.
Kolekar, with a Bachelors degree in sociology, is the first graduate from the backward Dhangar community. The 48-year- old man has now initiated his elder son into his organisation. Being a mute witness for long to the trauma of a marginalised society, Kolekar says it was but inevitable that he would start something like the sjsm. He started it when he was just 22 years old to "assist the poor in fighting for their rights". As a child he also had to contend with his Dhangar community being looked down upon. More than natural disasters like the quake and governmental disasters like the dam, it was casteism that effectively isolated the community from the rest of the district.
Having seen his people go without roads, schools or hospitals, Kolekar has made it his mission to put things right. Today, he also runs a hospital in one of the villages. His boats ferry doctors through routes that were earlier believed to be inaccessible. He also runs a herbal medical centre which makes good use of the rich herbs that grow in these parts. These endeavours have been funded by the people of the villages that dot Koyna. Not being on the government's map, it seems, can actually help improve things. If you want to help Kolekar in his mission, write to: Shramjivi Janata Sahayak Mandal, 127/1A Mangalwar Peth, Satara—415002; phone: 02162-80025/81498/81297.