After 7 decades of darkness, 5 tribal villages get power

KACHHLA: 69 years after the Independence, residents of five villages under Kachhla panchayat in a tribal-dominated Alirajpur district bordering Primer Minister’s home state Gujarat on Friday were overjoyed like never before. After living in darkness for seven long decades, the five villages get electricity.
Three months after a few villagers shot off a letter to Narendra Modi saying - ‘Bijli do, sadak do, nahi to gaon Gujarat ko de do’ (Give us electricity, roads or let us merge with Gujarat), electricity lit up their homes.Unable to believe their luck, they celebrated the occasion by dancing on beats of drum, flute and offered traditional rituals/puja.
Making no attempt to hide their happiness, villagers thanked Modi by bowing their heads before his poster that was pasted on electricity transformer and cheered him for resolving their long-pending demand. Villagers distributed sweets and enjoyed the moment to their fullest.
Elated over the development, Class 12 pass-out Ravindra Bamania said, “We are thankful to the PM for providing us electricity. It was a major problem for people here. Now, we will be able to see TV right here in our homes and electricity will trigger developmental activities.” Approach road to village should be constructed at the earliest so that people can commute safely and securely, he said.
Amba Ram of Khunt village said, “We lived in dark ages since Independence. Even for Aadhaar cards, we have to visit Gujarat as there is no electricity here. Now, facilities will come to us right here.”
Kachhla panchayat that falls in forest land is in hinterland and even basic civic amenities like pucca roads are missing here. Villagers call the area as no-man’s land. Sore over lack of facilities they say state government aggresively highlighting development to shed its Bimaru tag, little has been done. Villagers had given a call to boycott election in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Angry over a raw deal, residents from these villages raised a pitch for merger in Gujarat. The villages are at a stone’s throw from Kothar village in Gujarat, which is well connected, has power and 24x7 water and primary schools.
Wallowing in neglect for years, five villages Kachhla, Khunt, Dhakkapura, Harod and Chimata are caught in a time wrap and are still decades behind in development from its prosperous neighbour. Literacy rate is poor as government middle schools are there, but teachers are not willing to get a ‘punishment’ posting.
The five villages, part of Ratlam Lok Sabha constituency, a Congress stronghold, represented by Congress MP Kantilal Bhuria. Five villages under Jobat state assembly are represented by BJP’s Madho Singh Dabar. On Friday, he was present during the inauguration along with Alirajpur district collector Shekhar Verma, Jila Panchayat president Anita Chouhan and MPEB’s executive engineer L R Ahirwar.
Kachla village sarpanch Zor Singh said, “Villagers are living in a medieval era. The state government boasts of success of the Atal Jyoti Rural Electrification Scheme, but these five villages lived in darkness. We have electricity after so long time. Even after a decade, road construction is pending and neighbouring villages of Gujarat have first class roads. We were frustrated and angry. So we had written to Modiji to merge villages with his state.”