Komal Karpe, Sarpanch of Antroli village, Solapur district, Maharashtra

“My mission was to declare my village as A COVID Free village,” says Komal

As COVID began to spread, she mobilised women & youth volunteers & educated every family on the #COVID protocols.

Komal Karpe, the 21 year old Panchayat President (Sarpanch) immediately formed two committees in the village, one the ‘Gram Suraksha Dal’ & other ‘Gram Dakshata Samiti’ consisting of members who had the conviction to convince the villagers. These two teams conducted daily awareness campaigns on COVID protocol, COVID testing & awareness on vaccination, distribution of masks & sanitizers was executed with support from the Gram Panchayat. A complete three day Curfew was imposed in the village twice & a strict fine was imposed for anyone breaking the rules which helped in bringing down the spread of COVID infection in the village.

With collective efforts and leaderships shown by the villagers, today Komal has made remarkable efforts, of making her village COVID free.

Adding to her achievements, a great appreciation came from none other than the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Uddhav Thackeray, as mentioned in his speech “it is a remarkable work that Komal has done to keep her village safe, if we all could learn from her we can keep our country COVID free soon”

We salute the selfless service of collective leadership in times to protect their community in this pandemic.