‘Meghwal is known as the ladder minister’

In the last 70 years no minister visited this village. It was a challenge to visit that village.

Union minister Arun Ram Meghwal is popularly known as the “ladder minister”, a BJD leader said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

In a lighter vein, BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab recalled an incident in June this year when Meghwal had to climb a ladder, pitched on a tree, to get clearer mobile signal at a village in Bikaner district of Rajasthan which is part of his constituency.

“We have with us a minister (referring Meghwal) who is grounded (jiske paanv jameen se jude hain). He (the minister) has gone to those areas where no minister has visited in the last 70 years,” Mahtab said while participating in a debate on the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Responding to this, Meghwal, the minister of state for finance and corporate affairs, rose from his seat and said, “I come from a desert area. This incident is of Dholia village in Rajasthan.

“In the last 70 years no minister visited this village. It was a challenge to visit that village. That too, when the temperature at noon was 49-50°celsius. I accepted that challenge.”

The minister said that during his visit, the people told him that no nurse has visited that area. “The people said that if I want to do something, I should make a nurse available,” he said.

When he wanted to make a phone call, the locals told him that he would have to climb a tree to get the mobile signal. “In such circumstances, it was difficult to talk to the department to get the nurse and I told the people that I will make some arrangements tomorrow,” Meghwal said. The minister said the locals then said “If I was their representative, I would also have to make the phone call the same way they do.”

Meghwal said he made the call by scaling the tree on a ladder and the nurse was made available.