This story is from May 15, 2016

Still living in dark age

Controlled directly or indirectly by Naxalites, 150 villages in Gadchiiroli district are struggling to get basic amenities like power, water, roads or telephones
Still living in dark age
Nelgunda (Gadchiroli): Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis proudly proclaims Maharashtra to be the most progressive and industrialized state of the country. A visit to interiors of Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district, however, reveals a different picture. Even 68 years after independence, development is yet to reach as many as 150 villages of this backward district.
In fact, they are still living in primitive age with basic facilities like power, roads, water or phones absent.
For those in cities, it is hard to imagine life without power, mobiles, or TV but tribals in Nelgunda and over 100 other villages are without them and more. There is hardly any medicine shop as most inhabitants are poor farmers. Additionally, they live under constant shadow of fear, as a majority of villages beyond Bhamragarh are directly or indirectly controlled by the Naxalites. These include Pengunda, Kawande, Porangal, Perimelli and others. A major factor for lack of development is that Maoists vehemently oppose building of bridges, roads and even mobile towers, according to the aggrieved villagers.
“We also want to watch TV. For that we need to travel to Bhamragarh, about 30 kms away. We apprised the Panchayat Samiti of our problems about absence or roads and electricity but we got no response,” the dejected villagers said. They had gathered at Nelgunda village during an event organized by Bhumkal Sanghatan that fights Naxals ideology. Villagers from nearby areas attended the event where complained of absence of basic amenities. The local politicians failed to raise these basic issues and only visit the villages at the time of elections.
When TOI contacted Fadnavis, he diverted all queries to power minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. Shockingly, he made light of the matter by saying over 19 lakh people in Maharashtra were living without power. He said government planned to provide them electricity through solar generation. “We had appointed solar city consultant for studying the geographical position of Gadchiroli and make arrangements for generating power in remote areas. It would be operated on built-operate and transfer basis (BOT),” Bawankule told TOI.
He added the district was very big and it would require an investment of Rs500 crore to erect infrastructure to provide power in these villages, located in dense jungles.
Bhumkal convener Prof Arvind Sovani contradicted this saying the government had already erected poles and wires a couple of years back but they were yet to get electricity. “The governor had given directives to government to install mobile towers in areas affected by left wing extremism. It was proposed to install 34 towers but BSNL completed only two of them. A dispute arose between BSNL and police over location and security of towers. The former insisted that they should be inside police stations for better security but the latter refused. Since then the work has stopped.”
He said reluctance of BSNL and power utility like MSEDCL officials to work in Naxal affected areas was another factors affecting development. “They simply don’t want to work here citing security reasons. It affects entire operations of these organizations and project are stuck. The situation, however, has improved in last couple of years,” Sovani pointed out.
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