Epicentre of malnourishment, Harisal set to become Maharashtra’s first smart village

The state’s decision to hand over the village to Microsoft was taken during his visit to the United States in July.

The tribal village with population not exceeding 2,000 has reported maximum number of malnourishment cases in the last two decades.

Despite non-government organisations and state government’s schemes, transformation of this village with poor communication channels remains the biggest challenge for the Devendra Fadnavis government.

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The software giant, along with the state administration, will emphasise on health and skill development programmes. Every villager will be issued a health card. The registration of children, from newborns to 15 years old, will be regularly monitored with the help of anganwadi workers.

Installation of communication centres and power transformers to ensure communication and connectivity is also high on the agenda.

The government aspires to make Harisal the first ‘digital smart village’ of Maharashtra.

Fadnavis said, “After taking charge of Maharashtra, I had visited Melghat. It was in the first couple of months that I had taken the decision to transform this village complete with communication and infrastructure.”
He said, “Unfortunately, Harisal can be called as the headquarters of malnourishment in Melghat. The lack of nutrition, coupled with genetic health problems, and the lifestyle of people have to be changed to make it more healthy and connected with the mainstream.”