Electricity-starved Bihar will get a 4,000 MW Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP) and the Centre will allocate sufficient number of coal blocks for it, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal announced last month. "We want that the electricity requirement of the state is met by production here itself," he said.
The news has brought new hope for the inhabitants of a non-descript Bhagwatipur village in the remote Sitamarhi District of the eastern Indian state of Bihar. For them, electricity is non-existent; here are villagers who haven't ever seen a filament shining in their village. When the entire nation is celebrating India's Mars Mission, this village finds no space in basic development. The concept of India becoming a "Super Power" is a myth for them. The reasons are obvious.
Shamsa Begum, who has spent her entire life within the confines of this village, says she knows nothing about electricity. Those who have watched the Shahrukh Khan starrer Swades would be able to relate to Shamsa Begum's dilemma.
This sorry state of affairs certainly trashes the tall claims of the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had promised electricity to every village of Bihar by 2015. His party, incidentally, is still in power.
State Energy Minister Bijendra Yadav has also promised that the power supply in the state would be increased from the current 3000 Megawatt to 5500 Megawatt. Undoubtedly, the recent happenings like the commercial launch of the 660 MW unit IV of Barh Super Thermal Power Plant, the inauguration of the commercial operation of the second 110 MW unit of the first phase of Kanti Thermal Power Station in Muzaffarpur district, efforts to get the approval for 132 MW hydel project at Baghmara in Supaul district, reflect the good intentions. Bhagwatipur ke nivasi expect action. Too many generations have spent life without electricity.
In such a situation, parents are forced to send their children away to have a relatively productive life in the city. Others leave in search of livelihood opportunities.
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Shekh Sahab's son, employed overseas, amuses the entire village with the stories of development he has become a part of.
The most severely affected are the basic amenities of education and health. However, despite every hardship, residents have decided not to give up hope and are leaving no stone unturned in their effort to bring electricity to their village.
Mohammad Salimuddin, a Class 12 student said that the villagers have visited the electricity office umpteen times. They have even submitted an application signed by a hundred and fifty villagers. They were promised that the survey work would begin in a fortnight. But those 15 days have never appeared on the calendar. The villagers keep visiting the electricity office, only to return without meeting the Assistant Electrical Engineer. He could not be contacted on the phone either.
On the other hand, the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana's website claims that the electrification of this village is under process. This happens only in India!
Bhagwatipur is not the only village with such a grim situation as regards electricity. Many villages in Bihar share the same grief. Where there is no sign of electricity in these villages, some are lucky to at least have poles and wires in their village. However, no electricity has ever touched these poles or wires.
Village Bhutha, situated next to Bhagwatipur, is a perfect example of such a situation. It has the infrastructure for electricity; their transformer that had stopped working five years ago has not been replaced yet. Villagers' complaints about replacing or repairing the transformer have evidently fallen on deaf ears.
An engineering student pursuing higher studies away from his village rues that once he enters the village, his life goes back to the Dark Ages. His laptop and mobile phone are rendered useless and he loses contact with everyone outside the village. Undoubtedly, this affects his education.
With our leaders promoting Digital India campaign at a global level, such realities juxtapose the claims of India moving forward. As far as the case of Bhagwatipur and other villages in Sitamarhi is concerned, they are still like the mythological tales of the Treta Yug that Sitamarhi is famous for.
Villagers claim that it is not impossible to bring electricity to this part of Bihar and blame it on the negligent attitude of the administration. The Charkha Development Communication Network agrees with the villagers who feel that if the flood water coming from Nepal, also the reason behind the annual floods that devastate the region's economy, is used to produce electricity, not only Bhagwatipur but the whole of Bihar would brighten up.
The views expressed in the article are of Nikhat Perveen, who writes on development issues.