Kanchanpur, January 10: Shuklaphanta-3 Ward Chairman Narendra Prasad Chaudhary is busy picking vegetables in his garden till late in the evening. He puts the vegetables he has picked in the evening on his motorcycle in the morning and takes them to the market to sell.
He has been doing this work continuously for the past three years. In the afternoon, he spends most of his time on the work of Chaudhary’s ward. He says that he has been continuously adopting vegetable farming as it is easy to manage the household expenses.
Chaudhary is known as a ward chairman who supports the people in their happiness and sorrow, such as in vegetable farming. That is why he was elected as ward chairman for a second term. When he does not have ward work on his days off, he spends the whole day planting, weeding, fertilizing, and irrigating vegetable plants. His wife also helps Chaudhary in everything from planting to picking and carrying vegetables. The ward chairman has been earning around Rs. 500,000 per year by selling vegetables. He has been cultivating vegetables on ten acres of land.
Cauliflower, tomatoes, coriander, radish, chilli, radish, chickpeas, kidney beans, potatoes and other vegetables and greens are growing in Chaudhary’s garden. “We have earned about Rs 50,000 by selling cauliflower alone,” said Chairman Chaudhary. “We have sold the cauliflower we planted for the first time, and we will sell the cauliflower we planted for the second time next month.” He says that other vegetables besides cauliflower have been sold for about Rs 20,000.
“The onion seedlings are ready to be planted in the garden,” said Savitri Chaudhary, the chairperson’s wife. “They are in the process of digging potatoes. We will dig potatoes and plant onions.” Earlier, the Chaudhary couple had managed to earn an income of Rs. 100,000 by cultivating gourds, cucumbers, bitter gourds, and jackfruit. The income from vegetable farming has been supporting the family’s expenses as well as their son’s education. They say that the salary they receive from the municipality will be spent on social work.
“We should give financial support to those who ask for it,” he said. “We should welcome guests who come to visit us. We should not ignore those who ask for help in carrying out social work. In such a situation, it is very difficult to survive with the salary provided by the city.”
“We don’t have to walk around waving our hands saying we are a people’s representative. Seeing the ward chairperson’s hard work, others will do the same. We ourselves must instill the habit of working. Development will only take a leap forward if the ward residents become economically prosperous,” he says.
Chaudhary, who spends his mornings, evenings and holidays working in his fields, is equally interested in the development work of the ward. He takes the initiative to contribute his labor to the upgradation of village roads. The ward residents know him as a hardworking ward chairman. Bil Bahadur Chaudhary says that the ward residents gave him the opportunity to take the leadership of the ward chairman for the second time because he is a pioneer in development and social work.
“Even though he is the ward chairman, he cultivates vegetables. He is no less than other farmers in the village in growing vegetables,” he said. “The municipality and ward also run grant programs by putting farmers first. They provide training according to the type of training that farmers need.
He says that through the efforts of the ward chairman, commercial vegetable farmers have received power tillers for plowing their fields, high-tech plastic tunnels for vegetable cultivation, and electric motors and pump sets for irrigation. He says that the ward chairperson is responsible for promoting the use of improved seeds and mobilizing technical staff to educate farmers on farming methods.
Before becoming the ward chairman, Narendra had led the village as the village headman. In the Tharu community, the village headman is responsible for administering justice, distributing land, preserving culture, and leading development.
