A DELICACY FOR CM RAMAN

WHAT IS bare necessity for the rich is luxury for the poor, goes an adage. But the reversal of the saying played out when Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh was “entertained” with, what he called, “sumptuous” lunch by a woman daily wage earner during the ongoing “Lok Suraj” (good governance) campaign launched by him with an objective of getting feedback on his government’s welfare schemes directly from the beneficiaries in the remote areas of the state, recently.

Mr Singh had suddenly dropped at a dam construction site at Arkheda, Bilaspur, during his campaign apparently to inspect progress of work and living conditions of the labourers engaged in the project.

It was lunchtime and workers were having their food then.

Mr Singh could not resist the desire to break the bread with them and asked Urmila, a labourer, if she could share her food with him.

Urmila appeared more than happy to oblige him and served him a thali containing chawal, sabzi, bhaji and aam ka achaar, the staple diet of the poor, particularly the daily wage earners.

But Mr Singh relished the food so much that he told the gathering of workers and senior officers present there that he hardly remembered if he had such delicacies.

“It is a sumptuous meal for me,” he said. He was particularly bowled over by the “mouth-watering” pickle. The food made him so happy that he offered to fulfil whatever his host wished.

Urmila wanted him to sanction a well for her village to solve the drinking water problem. Mr Singh not only sanctioned it, but also ordered the district collector present on the occasion to grant a solar pump to draw water from it.

A poor person’s staple diet is a “sumptuous” delicacy for the rich!