One’s dedication and enthusiasm can do
wonders and one such leading example is Manipur’s Tamenglong DC Dr L Angshim
Dangshawa. The 31 years’ old IAS officer generated new ideas to shape up the
district and executed one of them towards education and public hygiene front
which yielded good results.
Tamenglong was known as Bharat’s most
backward districts, and people carrying ill people through the jungles on foot due
to paucity of hospitals and other infrastructures from the district, was a
common sight.
Under his campaign, five mini “Street
Libraries” were established at various garbage dumping sites after cleaning the
trash at Tamenglong town at the district headquarters, about 145 km from
Imphal.
The library is a small bookshelf
measuring about a little more than two feet in breadth and about three feet in
length, and it functions without lock in multiple colour shades at five
locations – TBC Junction, Old Market, Rani Gaidinliu Market, Medical Gate and
Bethel Church Road Junction – at the town.
Motivating quotes written on the shelves
include, “The reader does not steal and the thief does not read.”
Dangshawa stated the small project has
been taken up to inculcate the minds of young children to learn, maintain
discipline and sincerity as well as the general public to keep the town neat
and clean.
The DC, along with his subordinate staff
and the public, cleaned the places and set up the mini libraries. The
initiative was part of the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign under the theme, “Free
Garbage India” which ended on October 2.
Earlier too, Tamenglong district deputy
commissioner Armstrong Pame grabbed the headlines when he constructed a
whopping 100 km road with the help of people without funds from the government.
After Pame, many deputy commissioners
posted in Tamenglong extended their efforts to grow the district in all
spheres.
Unlike many other dysfunctional or scrapped
schemes, the mini library initiative is still functional.
“So far, the libraries are functional
with young children coming and taking books. In some cases, they have returned
the books and, in some cases, they have not returned. Some students have also
donated new books,” said the young IAS officer.
“I named the library Garbage or
Knowledge? This is just a message asking the people whether you choose the
garbage or you choose the library,” added Dangshawa, who completed his MBBS
course from Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal
East district in 2017.
NE Watch Desk
