Mulugu & Jayashankar Bhupalpally District, TELANGANA :

Distributes her earnings among the poor, aims to educate tribals about welfare schemes

Community outreach during the weekends has earned sub-registrar of Mulugu and Jayashankar Bhupalpally appreciation from tribals in the area.

Tasleema Mohammad, 34, takes up farm work, which is the only form of work available in the area. Whatever money she earns through her labour, she uses to spend on the needy.

Beneficiaries of her weekend and holiday labour include a 15-year-old girl, who lost her parents in a road accident in 2013. Ms Tasleema is now looking after her.

Her service has earned her the moniker ‘Gutti Koyala Peddakka’ (sister of Gutti Koya tribes) in the area.

While pushing files and recording transactions are her routine jobs, the qualitative difference that has come in her life by helping the needy is an unmatched feeling, she told The Hindu.

Even the locals in the area also approach her for solutions to their civic and social problems.

Ms. Tasleema said that she herself was the victim of Naxal violence, as she lost her father when she was just two.

She recalled how her mother single-handedly raised her and her five siblings in the face of adversity.

Narrating her experience working with farm labourers, the Group II officer said that farmers, especially tribals, were not aware of several schemes aimed at improving their lives, like crop insurance and farm subsidy. She feels that there is an urgent need to educate the tribal farmers about government initiatives.

“During weekends and holidays, I work at the farms and interact with them for hours. They pay me ₹300-400 per day, which I give to the needy in the village,” she said. A mother of two, Ms. Tasleema said that she always travels by public transport instead of using her official vehicle.

“My mother has inspired me in every way. She is my role model.”

The officer, who even knows how to drive a tractor, also runs an NGO that provides education and other basic needs to the poor and destitute. She has bagged ‘Best Employee of the year’ award 11 times in 12 years of her service in the department.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Abhinay Deshpande / Hyderabad – August 16th, 2020