Many residents of Saranyavas, Narol, a colony of the DNT community Saranya, have been deprived of their entitlements as they never got their income certificates issued. After this
issue was brought up by the leaders and committee members in the community meeting held on the 15th of June, 2022, the (APF) project staff of CfD explained the procedure in
detail: (1) Filling up the form for income certificate (2) Documentary proof of identity and residence (Aadhaar, Electricity bill, Voter Card etc.) (3) Panchnama by the Talati (Village
officer) in the presence of two witnesses (4) Submission of the forms at the Mamalatdar Office. 

Sheelaben Tulsibhai Saranya was quite prompt and proactive and volunteered to take the responsibility to facilitate the entire process on behalf of the Samaveshi Shaher Committee
of Saranyavas, Narol. She coordinated with her fellow committee members and identified 20 families who deserved and needed Income Certificates. They gathered all the documents such as Aadhaar Card/Voter Id/Electricity Bill.  Sheelaben assisted each family to fill up the form and all the preparatory work was completed on the 16th of June. The next day, on the 17th of June, all the 20 women from the households that had applied, accompanied by Sheelaben and 3 other committee members Kankuben, Januben and Seemaben and the community leaders Kalubhai, Mahendrabhai and Khodabhai as Panchnama witnesses, visited the Mamalatdar office in Isanpur, where the Talati completed the process of Panchnama. Subsequently they got themselves photographed and submitted the application forms with all the requisite annexures (Panchnama, photos and the documentary proof of identity/residence). All 20 applicant families received their income certificates by 21st June evening.

For Sheelaben and the other committee members and even for the senior community leaders it was a first time successful experience for the first time in their lives. They had always gone through ‘agents’ who fleeced them and still took a long time in getting such work done. Sheela ben said: “We learned a lot with this experience; the most important requirement is correct knowledge and information. Once we have that we can manage almost anything”. “Immediately after the community meeting we distributed the tasks among ourselves and completed all preparatory work in a day”, added Kalubhai. For Januben, Seemaben and Kankuben it was the very first visit to a government office. Kankuben was grateful and excited too: “We never thought that we could get this work done by ourselves. We have not seen anything beyond our waste-picking sites. But this experience has given us confidence and hope”.