22-year-old sarpanch plants eyes in the skies to guard Haryana village

CHANDAWALI: A village in Haryana’s Faridabad district is under 24X7 CCTV surveillance, thanks to the efforts of its 22-year-old sarpanch — an MA student.

CHANDAWALI: A village in Haryana’s Faridabad district is under 24X7 CCTV surveillance, thanks to the efforts of its 22-year-old sarpanch — an MA student.

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Anju Yadav has always wanted to improve Chandawali. As a student, she couldn’ t do much, she felt.

When Haryana government made it mandatory for panchayat election contestants to have completed at least Class 10, her qualification became her trump card.

She contested the poll six months ago, won it and set about installing 72 CCTV cameras in all the lanes and crossings of Chandawali, which has a population of 10,000. She used panchayat funds for the project.

“Though our village had always been peaceful, I thought we should make our village safe. I planned to cover the entire village through CCTV cameras,” said the second-year MA (Hindi) student at Aggarwal College, Ballabgarh.

She discussed the idea with her parents, friends and neighbours. They all agreed with her plan, mainly because the Haryana government had carved out an Industrial Model Town (IMP) close to the village.

Industries are coming up and the number of outsiders coming to the village is on a steady rise, she said. The villagers realised this may pose a security problem in future, she said.

“I visited localities with my father and selected lanes and crossings. I got in touch with a company that deals in CCTV cameras, and we went ahead with the project,” said Yadav.

Further, she persuaded her parents to spare a room to setup the control room .“My family and I monitor the live feed from 48 cameras.”

“When I am at college, my parents monitor the feeds. When I return home, I take up this responsibility,” said Yadav, whose father is a farmer and mother a homemaker.

Two more control rooms have been set up in the houses of other villagers who monitor the feeds from the remaining cameras.

Her effort, she said, has garnered praise from her friends, teachers and neighbours.

A resident of the village, Anuradha, said ,“We are happy that our village has found place in digital map of India. We feel safe and secure after CCTVs’ installation.”

Ch and aw ali is a pioneer among villages for its project, said Faridabad police commissioner Hanif Qureshi. He inaugurated the project. “The trend of installing CCTV cameras has been seen in urban areas…We encourage this initiative and many other villages have drawn inspiration from Chandawali,” he told HT.

Following Chandawali’s lead, Machgar village has also installed CCTVs cameras.

However, this is not Chandawali’s only glory. While metro cities still struggle to light up all streets during night, there is hardly a road in this village that is not well lit. Even during power cuts, they work well because they run on solar power.

“Some high-mast lights will also be operated on solar system,” Yadav’s father Giriraj Yadav.

“The amendment in Haryana Panchayat Raj Act has brought this change where educated people got the opportunity, won and are now bringing in changes in their villages,” said Faridabad deputy commissioner Chander Shekhar.

And Yadav is busy planning more advancement projects to give wings to her dream of seeing her village flourish.