Nagpur: To strengthen grassroots administration, district collector Vipin Itankar visited villages across Nagpur district to monitor and ensure the resolution of local issues through timely action by village-level offices on Wednesday.As part of this drive, Itankar visited Gram Panchayats in Pavaddona (Mauda taluka), Gumthala (Kamptee taluka), and other villages to interact directly with citizens and assess the ground situation. The initiative, part of the district’s broader plan to make local governance more accessible, mandates that officials remain present at Gram Panchayat and Talathi Saja offices regularly — especially on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.“Samadhan Diwas has been started to ensure that issues are addressed right in the village. Applications received on the designated Wednesdays will be resolved within 15 days,” Itankar said at a public meeting at the Gumthala Gram Panchayat office.Itankar, while encouraging villagers to make full use of Samadhan Diwas, warned against misuse of the platform. “Some villages have reported false complaints made with the intention to blackmail. Such actions will not be tolerated,” he said firmly.The initiative aims to simplify grievance redressal by making govt officials more accessible and accountable at the village level. At Pavaddona, ten complaints were registered — eight related to the revenue department and two concerning agriculture. Officials initiated the resolution process. A health camp organised alongside the event received an enthusiastic response from residents.Present at the meeting were Sarpanch Shilatai Wange, sub-divisional officer Sachin Gosavi, district agriculture superintendent Ravindra Manohare, tehsildar Dattatray Nibankarkar, mandal officer Rahul Bhujade, Talathi Pratiksha Patil, and Gram Sevak Ankita Chakole. With daily progress reports now being sought from officials and a push for direct citizen engagement, the district administration hopes to make this model of localised governance more efficient, responsive, and transparent.Itankar inaugurates breakfast programme for government schools in NagpurIn a landmark step to combat childhood hunger, collector Vipin Itankar inaugurated a large-scale breakfast programme for govt school children by flagging off the first delivery truck from a newly built mass-feeding kitchen in Butibori MIDC on Wednesday.The state-of-the-art kitchen will serve over 20,000 hot, nutritious meals daily to schoolchildren across Nagpur. It was developed over nearly two years, following sustained planning, partnerships, and support from both organisations and the people of Nagpur. The initiative is the result of a collaboration between ‘Share Our Strength’, a US-based NGO committed to ending childhood hunger globally for over four decades, and The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Speaking at the event, representatives highlighted the critical need for nutrition in schools, especially in underserved areas. “This kitchen is not just about food — it’s about giving children a fair shot at education and a better future,” said Sachin Jahagirdar, India Program Director, Share Our Strength.Several prominent donors and supporters attended the launch, including Param Sancheti, Prashant Garg, Hemant Lodha, Narendra Jog, Sameer Bendre, Jeetu Nayak, Subodh Dubey, Vyompada Prabhu, and Ashish Singh of Akshaya Patra, and Rohit Choudhari and Sachin Jahagirdar of Share Our Strength.
