Connectivity puts Surat's Ena village to higher pedestal

SURAT: The residents of Ena village in Palsana taluka of Surat have transformed into communicators par excellence. There are 500 households in the village and each house has internet access. This is because someone from each household is settled either in the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada. The need to stay connected with their kith and kin has turned Ena into an e-village and its residents into communicators par excellence.
Thakor Nagin Patel (73) and his wife Sushila (67) don't go to sleep before talking to their grandchildren every night. The couple communicates with their children and grandchildren, who live in the US through Skype or Facebook daily.
A villager said, "Earlier, I was not that open with my son, but now I talk to him daily on various issues. He is in the UK. The internet has brought us closer."
Ena, which has a population of 3,000, has cement concrete roads, a water purification plant, a cricket stadium and a school till class XII. All this has been possible because of remittances in dollars and sterling pounds by people of Ena settled abroad to their dependants in the village.
"We began internet service in Ena with a single customer in 2007. Today, almost every house has connectivity." said Pratik Patel of Smart Link Solutions Pvt Limited, Bardoli. Every household pays about Rs 10,000 per year to stay connected with their kith and kin.
"We are planning to hire a service provider so that he provides services to every house collectively. This will work out cheaper for all of us," a village resident and director of Bardoli Sugar Factory Primal Patel said.
Principal, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Ena, Bharat M Desai said, "We are probably the only village which is blessed with all the facilities. Ena has a high school, cement concrete roads and a purified water plant for everyone. This has been possible thanks to communication and communicators."