Vantangiyas look forward to celebrate Diwali with UP CM
Yogi Adityanath has shared a special bond with this forest dwelling community for many years. The Vantangiyas, who were brought here from Myanmar during colonial rule for afforestation activities, said they are grateful to him for declaring 23 villages as revenue villages
GORAKHPUR For locals in Jangl Tinkonia, one of 23 villages inhabited by the Vantangiyas in Gorakhpur, Diwali celebrations are incomplete without chief minister Yogi Adityanath who has shared a special bond with this forest dwelling community for many years as Gorakhpur MP.
This time too, the locals are eagerly waiting for his arrival and are busy making preparations to welcome the CM on the occasion of Diwali on Thursday. Such is the popularity of Yogi Adityanath that even the elderly people said that they would not light ‘diyas’ if the CM doesn’t come on Diwali.
“The district administration has completed all preparations for the proposed visit of the chief minister on Thursday,” said Vijay Kiran Anand, district magistrate, Gorakhpur.
The Vantangiya people, who were brought here from Myanmar during colonial rule for afforestation activities, said they are grateful to Adityanath for declaring the 23 villages as ‘revenue villages’. A revenue village is a small administrative region with defined borders
After becoming MP in 2009, Yogi Adityanath always went to Jangl Tinkonia (in his parliamentary constituency) and celebrated Diwali with underprivileged children by distributing sweets, books and pencils among them. He continued to celebrate Diwali every year with them even after becoming chief minister.
“After becoming CM in 2017, the first thing Yogiji did was to change the miserable conditions of Vantangiyas by ensuring that all basic facilities –
roads, power, education and healthcare were provided to them. His government also accorded revenue village status to 23 Vantangiya villages for the first time since independence, paving way for locals to avail these facilities like any other citizen. Prior to this, the community was even deprived of their basic right to vote. This initiative has strengthened the bond between the community and Yogiji,” said BJP leader Jarnadan Singh.
Under the Yogi Government, the picture of the entire village has changed – houses which remained in dark are lit up with electricity, schools are being set up for children, villages being connected with roads, health services are accessible by locals, benefits of schemes are reaching people and pucca houses have been built, he said.
“The Vantangiyas had never celebrated such a joyous Diwali the way they have in the last four and a half years,” said the BJP leader.
Banshu, 70, a villager, thanked the chief minister for the development work. “Whatever work you see in the village, has been done by Yogiji. Nobody else bothered in the past.”