US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Khairnar on a new mission

Soroor Ahmedin Patna

The 'demolition man' is looking for a new mission and, perhaps, a new home too.

Last fortnight, suspended deputy municipal commissioner of Bombay Municipal Corporation, G R Khairnar, was in Jehanabad meeting victims of a series of massacres - the outcome of intense rivalry between land-holding Bhumihars and Harijans -- that have permanently scarred the psyche of the people here.

Jehanabed and some of its neighbouring villages have been witness to seven carnages -- five of them in quick succession this year.

After completing the tour, Khairnar declared that he would take up at least 20 strife-torn villages of two districts -- Gaya and Jehanabad -- for welfare work. He disclosed that he was not only going to sow the seed of peace but would also introduce commercial farming of medicinal herbs in the region. There was also an offer to make Jehanabad his permanent home, provided it helped ease the tension.

Khairnar's visit was sponsored by the Gandhi Peace Foundation. NGOs like Gram Nirman Mandal and Lok Samiti will help him identify the 20 villages where he would undertake social welfare work.

Khairnar told reporters in Gaya that medicinal herbs were gaining popularity in Maharashtra. He said three to four farmers would be taken from Bihar to that state every year for training. He added that herbal plants, on an average, take eight to nine months to grow and are in much demand from the manufacturers of Ayurvedic medicines and practitioners of conventional systems of treatment.

This wasn't the first time Khairnar was in Bihar, but it did seem like a long time. When he was here last time, some three years back, he was a bitter critic of Sharad Pawar. This time he trageted the BJP and Shiv Sena. He criticised BJP for raising emotive issues like Ayodhya and Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins for political gains. Sharad Pawar was left alone.

So, was Khairnar's war against corruption in Bombay over? Well, almost. For, Khairnar believes that corruption has become a non-issue with all the political parties neck deep in one scandal or the other.

When asked about would be his expectations from the Bihar government once he started his social work in the state, his answer was cryptic: ''Let them allow me to do my work.''

Tell us what you think of this report