Thursday, July 2, 2009

Dark Corner of India -Chakauti‏

Reminder

Sent: 02 July 2009 20:39PM

To:

Secretary(Power)
Govt. of India,
Shram Shakti Bhavan
New Delhi - 1

Subject: Village Chakauti in Sitamarhi District - Dark Corner of India

Dear Sir,

While we are all busy building India and its image, there are a few dark corners long neglected. I have been visiting my home Village Chakauti in Bokhra Block (earlier in Nanpur Block) in Sitamarhi district,Bihar, where the villagers had deposited their initial money for electic connection years back to the Electric Supply Division Sitamarhi in 2001-2002. However, no action was ever taken on the ground to electrify the village.


2. The plight of the village, lack of proper education, agricultural backwardness, complete lack of infrastructure, not to talk of any industrialisation, unemployment among its youth and the sheer helplessness of all the villagers is directly attributed to the non electrification of the Village. While all the villages around Chakauti are electrified, the Village Chakauti is the lone one in the area groping in the dark, facing huge number of problems due to non electrification.

3. Earlier, on July 4, 2007, after my visit to the village I had written a similar letter to former Secretary(Power) and I received the following reply from Ministry of Power, Government of India:

" GOI has launched Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana for electrification of un-electrfied villages, intensive electrification of electrified villages and to provide free connections to BPL families. A project under the scheme has been sanctioned for the district Sitamarhi also. Chakauti village was not included under the project by the state for electrification as it was declared as electrifed earlier. However, during detailed survey during implementation of the sanctioned project, it was found that the village has got de-electrified. A supplementary project has been prepared to cover the village.

The RGGVY was for X Plan only. The proposal for continuation of the Scheme for XI Plan is under consideration of the Govt. The supplementary project will be sanctioned after approval of the scheme. "


4. I find that two years have gone by since then. No sign of any action is seen in the village despite visionary anouncements from Hon'ble Prime Minister of India such as

"My vision of rural India is of a modern agrarian, industrial and services economy co-existing side by side, where people can live in well equipped villages-----------.Rural incomes have to be increased. Rural infrastructure has to be improved. Rural education and health needs have to be met. Employment opportunities have to be created in Rural India."

and from Dy. Chairman of Planning Commission :

"One of the critical constraints which holds back our growth is the lack of infrastructure"

5. The villagers of Chakauti have high hopes of action from the Government. Could you kindly look into it?

Best Regards.

Yours sincerely,

( A Villager )

July 3,2009

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