An electricity meter at her residence in Kudana village in Morni tehsil. (Express Photo Kamleshwar Singh)
It took Rs 35,000, three electricity poles, more than 700m of wire, and a lot of hauling and digging by Vedo Devi’s two sons for Kudana village in Morni tehsil, comprising just two houses, to finally see the light —emanating from electric bulbs.
“I spent more than half my life in this village without electricity. It was only in March 2017 that my sons told me they are going to make the arrangements to bring power to our village without waiting any more for the authorities,” said the 62-year-old woman.
Morni tehsil is a hilly and forested area in Panchkula district. Kudana, 10 km from Morni and 3 km downhill from main road, was bypassed, while Mau, a hamlet of the village, had got electricity some years ago. No vehicles, however, can go on this road. Representations to the authorities elicited no response.
Vedo lives in the village with her family of two sons, Harpal and Magnesh Sharma, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Vedo’s brother-in-law and his family live in the second house, some metres away.
Last year, her sons decided they could wait no longer for electricity. So, they pooled together Rs 35,000, bought three poles, wires, and insulation tape. Then came the hard part. The two had to go downhill into a forested valley, carrying the wires on their back, slashing dense vegetation with the help of a hired JCB machine to cut a path uphill to reach Mau, 5 km away. They installed one pole there. The second one was installed in Kudana, close to their home, and a third was immediately downhill from there. The wire connected all three to a house in Mau.
Relatives of Vedo Devi near an electricity pole (Express Photo Kamleshwar Singh)
They bought pieces of wire as an entire length would have been too expensive; then all the bits had to be joined together. At one time, the wires, they had joined together, got separated after stringing through the three poles. A pole too got damaged. Later, Harpal got injured during the installation process. But then it all fell together.
“Once we got bijli (electricity), our lives changed. Now we have lights, fans and even a washing machine in our house. My grandchildren don’t need to study in candlelight or lamp when they grow up,” said Vedo, with her one-year-old grandson in lap.
There were, however, more hiccups.
“We were paying monthly charges to a resident of Mau, our relative, to whose house we had connected the wire. But someone complained to the electricity department that we had an illegal connection,” said Harpal.
The electricity department cut the connection, but fortunately, the officials left the infrastructure intact.
Vedo remembered how last October, the electricity department slapped a fine of around Rs 3,000 on her for accessing the “illegal” connection.
“We paid the fine and finally they installed two electricity meters at our houses. I know that our act could not be justified, but in this hilly area, everyone is dependant on each other,” said Harpal.
The electricity department has installed two electricity meters – one at Vedo’s house and another at her brother-in-law Devi Dayal’s residence.
Mau got electricity a few years back as it is located near an important hamlet Samrotha, which sees a lot of traffic because of a temple of local deity, Samlasan Devi.
Harpal’s wife Kiran Devi, who is from Sarahan village in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, next to Morni Hills, said it got electricity even before her birth. “After my marriage, relatives would think twice about visiting us, because we did not have electricity,” she said.
Executive Engineer, Electricity, Sanjeev Kumar, who looks after the operational affairs of Morni area, said he was not aware of this particular instance, but claimed it was possible.
“We understand the tough circumstances, in which people of this remote area are living. Indeed, we do come to know about such instances when people residing in deep valleys and upper hills take connections on their own from nearby areas. We do install electricity meters at their houses and mention in the official record ‘Expenses borne by consumers’.”
Pawan Kumar Dhiman of Morni, a member of Shivalik Development Board, who is looking after the electricity affairs, of Morni, said, “Bhoj Kudana is the last village of Morni out of 20, which got the electricity connection. But these were the individual efforts of the people of this village. Though all the village panchayats got electricity connections, but there are 55 dhanis (hamlets) out of 165, which are yet to get power.”
Kumar said sincere efforts are being made to bring electricity to the 55 dhanis.