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Adopted by governor, ‘smart’ village rues lack of facilities
The Rajasthan government came up with the ‘smart village’ initiative in 2016 on the lines of the Centre’s ‘smart cities’ mission, promising good internal road connectivity, public health care, computers in schools, and so on.
Bharatpur:
Residents of a village, adopted by the governor under the ‘smart village’ initiative, came down on a meeting held by officials, saying the promised benefits have not reached them.
The Rajasthan government came up with the ‘smart village’ initiative in 2016 on the lines of the Centre’s ‘smart cities’ mission, promising good internal road connectivity, public health care, computers in schools, and so on.
Barso village under Sewar panchayat samiti in Bharatpur district was adopted under the initiative, and Maharaja Surajmal Brij University was given the onus of overseeing the progress. It was promised that central and state government schemes will be implemented in the village.
Nearly one and a half years after the adoption, district officials reached the village for the first time to prepare a progress report at a co-ordination committee meeting held on Saturday.
A state-level celebration of the 69th Republic Day will be held at Lohagarh stadium in Bharatpur, and governor Kalyan Singh will stay here for two days. The officials went to Barso, anticipating that the governor might visit the village, located on Jaipur-Agra highway and nearly 5km away from the district headquarters.
Additional district magistrate OP Jain held the committee meeting at the government Adarsh middle school in Barso. Additional superintendent of police (rural) Dharmendra Singh, Bharatpur sub-divisional magistrate Pushkar Mittal and officials from all departments participated in the meeting.
“A meeting was held to ensure development at the smart village. We have directed officials to provide all facilities to the village,” said OP Jain.
The villagers have a different take. Lakhmi Chand, a villager, said, “After the village was adopted, officials held a meeting for the first time over development.”
The Adarsh middle school has no furniture for students. The RO plant has been closed for the last three months and students bring water from their houses, the villagers said.
With 441 households, the village under Bachhamadi panchayat has 2034 residents; it records 79.94% literacy rate.
“We do not get water supply; we have been using saline groundwater for the past five years,” said Tej Singh, a villager. Sher Singh said, “Villagers are forced to buy water with Rs 300 for a tanker. Each household needs to pay for three water tankers in a month.” Hari Singh said, “The district administration has constructed an overhead water tank to supply Chambal water from Mallah, but water does not come.”
All 33 gram panchayats under Sewar panchayat samiti have been declared open defecation free, but villagers alleged that half of the households have not got payments for toilets under the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.
Hari Singh said, “Nearly 200 households have been waiting for payments for toilets constructed under SBM.” Tej Singh said, “Villagers go to agriculture fields for open defecation as there is no enough water to use toilets.”
Around 400 saplings were planted on pasture land and a worker was deployed to take care of the plants. Villagers said the plants were not to be seen as the land was illegally possessed to grow mustard crops.
Villagers alleged that they get power for only five to six hours a day. Farmers are worried as they find it difficult to irrigate rabi crops due to power cuts.
Villagers demand construction of a boundary wall around a crematorium built by Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation at Rs 2.31 lakh.
