Amravati: For weeks, fear gripped students of the govt ashramshala at Doma in Chikhaldara. Students whispered about a ghost in the hostel. Attendance dipped, nights were sleepless, and superstition was winning over science in Melghat, one of the most remote tribal belts of the state.On Sept 1, the district’s top administration decided to fight the ghost, not with rituals, but by staying the night at the school.District collector Ashish Yerekar, Zilla Parishad CEO Satyam Gandhi, superintendent of police Niketan Kadam, assistant collector Siddharth Shukla, SDO Kisan Tadvi and MLA Kewalram Kale arrived at the Govt Secondary and Higher Secondary Ashram School, Doma, not for an inspection, but for a sleepover.They ate dal-rice sitting on the floor with the tribal students, inaugurated the new girls’ hostel, and then did something no file could teach — they talked all night.On a small ‘mitrangat katta’, a friends’ corner, under the open sky, the officers dropped their designations and became parents, elder brothers and mentors.Yerekar told students his story: how meeting an IAS officer as a schoolboy made him dream of becoming one. CEO Gandhi and project officer Shukla shared a BA degree was enough if backed by willpower. The message was simple and powerful: “We made it, you can too.”“The tribal community is not one that fears ghosts. You are descendants of Birsa Munda and Tantya Bhil, a community that fights tigers and bears in Melghat,” Yerekar told the students. “Don’t let superstition take over your life. Hold on to education and a scientific temper.”Before the interaction, renowned khanjiri player Sandeeppal Maharaj held a special session to deconstruct superstition through folk music and dialogue, preparing the young minds.The night worked. Kalyani Javarkar, a Class 11 science student of the school, summed up what many felt: “Senior officers like the collector and CEO counselled us and removed the fear from our minds. They spent time with us and gave us confidence. They told us that if we control our mind and give it a direction, we too can become big officers. This message will be very useful for us.”By morning, there was no ghost left to be found.
