An officer and a social worker

The officer is fondly called ‘Sreemanthudu’ of Kurnool by the people of Kapatralla

Kurnool: A village which was once under the influence of factionism is now an example of peace and prosperity. The village situated 60 km from the district headquarters was in the throes of faction feuds that left a trail of gory deaths, dozens of widows and traumatized villagers. The village Kapatralla was known for its unforgiving attitude of revenge which became the new blood sport. Retribution was the only word known to everyone - age no bar. The outraged village transformed itself and emerged as a model village in the district.

This transformation did not happen overnight. An officer’s relentless efforts were behind the transformation which changed the fate of the village. Ake Ravi Krishna, the Superintendent of Police took the responsibility on his shoulders in rewriting the fate of the villagers. Ravi Krishna during his training period in 2007 at Missouri was asked to select and visit a faction ridden village. The officer, who heard much about Kapatralla in Kurnool, selected this village for his visit. Moved by the pathetic situation he decided to adopt the village, if ever he gets posted to Kurnool.

Earlier, many officers posted at Kurnool strived to their level best and could control faction feuds to an extent by none of them thought of adoption the village. After the transfers of previous SPs, faction-wars came out with greater violence. No other officers came forward to set right the situation. Ravi Krishna after taking charge as Superintendent of Police in 2014 visited the affected village for the first time. He tried to win the hearts of those indulging in such revenge feuds by means of friendly policing, but reaped adverse result. Unrelenting on his decision, he went ahead with the developmental activities.

The villagers, who understood the officers attitude and his actions came forward in tandem and joined hands in the developmental activities. Ravi Krishna took up a school construction, in the intention to provide education to every child. Besides education, he went ahead with development programmes such as lying of CC roads and planting of trees on both sides of the road as well as providing a proper drainage system in the village. He the village youth and helped them get jobs as security guards. Apart from Kaptralla around 78 villages have been adopted by the police department in the district.

The officer did not stop his Good Samaritan activities after developing to Kapatralla village. He took up many other social projects in the district. He actively campaigned for eye donation and other harvestable organs of the dead He himself scripted, composed and sung a song on ‘eyes donation’, which has gone viral and inspired thousands to come forward to donate their eyes. So far around 6000 persons have pledged to donate their eyes.

Ravi Krishna speaking to Hans India said “as was said and believed that music is the medicine of the mind, the song has had an impact on every person. Regardless of religion, music soothes every heart. It’s a great feeling if people respond in a positive way”. He also said, Kapatralla village would be taken care even after his transfer.

He said, he has planned to settle down at Kapatralla by taking up permanent house construction, for this he has purchased a plot of land. Recalling a play written by him during his IPS training, while at Missouri in 2006, titled ‘Why did you break the basket ball court’ he said it had a great response as the main theme of the play was to conserve water. The officer is fondly called ‘Sreemanthudu’ of Kurnool, by the people of Kapatralla.

By V Narendra Kumar