UN award winner from Kalva dist in midst of controversy

The situation now is that Fatima is not even invited to the meetings of Proddu. The UN award winner attributes this to the jealousy generated among the members of Proddu over her getting the award. The villagers have somehow come to believe that she has not been transparent in financial matters.

Fatima’s rise to fame started five years ago when she was elected sarpanch of Kalva by a majority of 350 votes. Naturally, she became the key figure when a United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP) officer B Vijaya Bharathi arrived at the village to eradicate poverty by forming self help groups (SHGs).

Fatima helped the officer in forming the SHGs and motivated the women to join the groups. An organisation called `Proddu’ was set up by the villagers with the cooperation of UNDP and the number of groups increased to 35. Each group had ten members on the rolls.

The UNDP has provided Rs 13 lakh as revolving fund to Proddu, which was utilised by the 350 members of the organisation to take up self-employment activities.

Meanwhile, Fatima was selected for the UN award for her work in eradicating poverty and was sent to New York by the UNDP to receive the award. After returning to the village, she was felicitated by several Government and non-governmental organisations. During this period, Fatima went to Chennai and met AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha on an invitation. Following her meeting with Jayalalita, the AIADMK issued a press release that Fatima joined the party.

This angered the Kalva villagers and hundreds of women of `Proddu’ announced at a press conference that they had no connections with Fatima’s activities. The UNDP officer was also present at the conference.

Fatima denied the news later but it did not satisfy her colleagues who kept her away from the organisations’ activities. According to Fatima, she was not even invited to the regular meetings of the organisation.

Speaking to The Indian Express, she alleged that some members of Proddu have developed feelings of jealousy after she was selected for the award. They were also sore that she had been receiving numerous other awards and felicitations, Fatima said.

A Chennai-based organisation had announced an award and cash prize of Rs 10,000 for Fatima and requested her to come to the city to receive it. According to Fatima, UNDP officer Vijaya Bharathi telephoned the organisers to prepare the cheque in favour of `Proddu’ organisation.

Fatima received the cheque but kept it with herself. She showed this scribe the cheque and said that she was ready to hand it over to the organisation provided all the members of Proddu were present as she doubted the `credentials’ of the leaders of Proddu. Fatima was probably unaware that the cheque has become invalid as more than six months have gone by since the date of issue.

According to her, some Muslims of New York donated $1000 to her to take up poverty eradication measures in Kalva and assured to send more funds at a later stage. “I had given the entire amount (Rs 42,000) to Vijaya Bharathi,” she claimed.

Proddu president Jubeda Bee refused to comment on the entire controversy. “Fatima is like any other ordinary member of the organisation. On our part, we are going ahead with the programmes,” she said adding that three watersheds were sanctioned to the organisation and work was on in full swing.

Sankaramma, a villager, opined that the UN award created all the controversy and the surpanch was isolated by the members of the Proddu. She urged the officers of UNDP and district officials to intervene and bring about a compromise between Fatima and other members of the organisation.