PUNE, June 10: Social activist Anna Hazare today expressed his renewed determination to implement the model village development programme in Maharashtra on the lines of his successful experiment at Ralegan Siddhi, with the Hind Swaraj Trust (HST) having replaced the State Government.``My effort to extend the Ralegan Siddhi model to other parts of Maharashtra with the help of the State government machinery did not bear fruits. But the Hind Swaraj Trust proposes to accomplish the task in about 50 villages,'' he said.
Hazare was replying to a felicitation accorded to him by the Hind Swaraj Trust on his receiving the prestigious `International Humanitarian Award,' at a function held at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan premises here. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) director general R A Mashelkar was the chief guest while Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan president D M Mirasdar was in the chair.
Elaborating, Hazare said that the Hind Swaraj Trust had already undertaken surveys in 15 villages while 30 more villages were being shortlisted. The young volunteers trained at Ralegan Siddhi had been assigned the task of finalising the villages and implementing the development programme, he added.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
