An adventurous trip that revealed a stark reality
Vaibhav Ganjapure | tnn | Dec 25, 2018, 03:58 ISTNagpur: What’s the definition of development? It’s BSP (Bijli, Sadak and Pani) for a common man. In a city like Nagpur, it means Metro rail, cement roads, international schools and institutions like IIM, AIIMS and VNIT. Even for the Centre and state governments, the definition more or less remains the same.
Just 40km from the city, this definition, however, has gone for a toss. A visit to a couple of villages under Kuhi tehsil in Nagpur district, which have been affected by Gosikhurd dam, would shatter anything imagined under the name of development.
These remote villages, Sonarwahi and Pipri Munje, which lack even basic amenities, were partially submerged by the rising dam waters when the diarist visited them.
It all started when the aggrieved villagers, who had approached the high court with their grievances, bumped into the diarist. None believed them till they showed us actual photographs of how their everyday life is nothing short of a struggle.
Prodded by a colleague, we decided to visit ground zero. On reaching close to Sonarwahi, we were told to park our taxi near an Anganwadi, as road didn’t exist beyond that point. The village was over 3km away from there and we had to walk through a marshy land. Thankfully, there was no rain, else we would have to wade through knee-deep water, something which the villagers are accustomed to.
On reaching the destination after a long trek, the situation seemed grimmer than we expected. About 16-odd families lived there under constant fear of submergence as the dam water had reached just half km from their huts and had already submerged their farms. With this they had lost their only source of income.
The kids weren’t attending school for a year as the nearest Anganwadi is over 3km away. The power supply is erratic and available only in the night hours. Degree-holder youths work as farm labourers in nearby villages due to lack of jobs.
Pipri Munje was nothing short of a nightmare. We travelled on a small boat for about six kms, without any life jackets or safety gear. We waded through uneven surfaces, our boat got stuck in soil at some places while the water was very deep in other parts. At some places, top of big trees were at handshake distance, while at some places even the grass could be touched.
About 400 persons are unwilling to move to their rehabilitated place which lacked any facilities. Many of them were forced to buy boats after dam water turned their village into an island. The villagers somehow survive on crops grown on their partially submerged farms, and face problems like lack of water and erratic power supply. Most of the youths in both the villages weren’t getting brides to marry them due to these issues.
Our tour was nothing short of an adventure. But the villagers there still live in dark ages and in constant fear of death. It’s very unlikely the situation will change.
(Stories doing the rounds in corridors of Nagpur University and high court seldom go unnoticed by Vaibhav Ganjapure)
Just 40km from the city, this definition, however, has gone for a toss. A visit to a couple of villages under Kuhi tehsil in Nagpur district, which have been affected by Gosikhurd dam, would shatter anything imagined under the name of development.
These remote villages, Sonarwahi and Pipri Munje, which lack even basic amenities, were partially submerged by the rising dam waters when the diarist visited them.
It all started when the aggrieved villagers, who had approached the high court with their grievances, bumped into the diarist. None believed them till they showed us actual photographs of how their everyday life is nothing short of a struggle.
Prodded by a colleague, we decided to visit ground zero. On reaching close to Sonarwahi, we were told to park our taxi near an Anganwadi, as road didn’t exist beyond that point. The village was over 3km away from there and we had to walk through a marshy land. Thankfully, there was no rain, else we would have to wade through knee-deep water, something which the villagers are accustomed to.
On reaching the destination after a long trek, the situation seemed grimmer than we expected. About 16-odd families lived there under constant fear of submergence as the dam water had reached just half km from their huts and had already submerged their farms. With this they had lost their only source of income.
The kids weren’t attending school for a year as the nearest Anganwadi is over 3km away. The power supply is erratic and available only in the night hours. Degree-holder youths work as farm labourers in nearby villages due to lack of jobs.
Pipri Munje was nothing short of a nightmare. We travelled on a small boat for about six kms, without any life jackets or safety gear. We waded through uneven surfaces, our boat got stuck in soil at some places while the water was very deep in other parts. At some places, top of big trees were at handshake distance, while at some places even the grass could be touched.
About 400 persons are unwilling to move to their rehabilitated place which lacked any facilities. Many of them were forced to buy boats after dam water turned their village into an island. The villagers somehow survive on crops grown on their partially submerged farms, and face problems like lack of water and erratic power supply. Most of the youths in both the villages weren’t getting brides to marry them due to these issues.
Our tour was nothing short of an adventure. But the villagers there still live in dark ages and in constant fear of death. It’s very unlikely the situation will change.
(Stories doing the rounds in corridors of Nagpur University and high court seldom go unnoticed by Vaibhav Ganjapure)
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