New government comes, promises made, but conditions of remote villages still remain the same

Laishram Ranbir *

Pushing/Chingshou located 60 km south east of Ukhrul in Ukhrul District and about 125 km from Imphal :: Pix - IT News

With the BJP-led coalition government already completed 100 days with various developmental projects being taken up as compare with the past government has been quite an eye-opener for the state but when we look at our villages in the 21st century, our heads hang in shame.

If writings on development issues of the rural and marginalized communities are to be believed, we have every reason to believe that the remote villages of our country are deprived of all the basic facilities. The situation of the villages lying on the borders of the country is perhaps the worst of all.

"Election do come and go, candidate's visits to woe votes but once elected never look back to their people and it has been more than 20 years that my village have not witness a single electric power though the village have a unrepaired broken transformer" said Village Chief of Pushing village.

Pushing/Chingshou Village, a near border village of Ukhrul District in Manipur is one such village. Pushing/Chingshou Village has around 200 housees with a population of about 1000 people.

Everybody here faces one problem or the other like dilapidated roads, unavailability of electricity and absence of educational institutions.

Proper roads, electricity and water supply are the lifeline of any village and town in the state but Pushing/Chingshou Village has neither proper roads nor electricity. From these arise several problems of livelihood.

In the absence of roads, these villages are disconnected from the rest of the state. The situation gets worse when a natural disaster strikes. "In case of electricity, the power transmitter which still remains unrepaired, it is very unfortunate to share that none of the concern department bother to fix it for the last 20 years.

When the villagers shout for help, the concerns reply the opposite and even order the villagers to bring the transmitter to the nearby electricity department which is miles far away from the village." Are the department's workers only stations and posted at the hill district to earn for free while there duty is to serve the needs?

"Our only means of electricity is the rechargeable solar lamp and solar plate that we personally bought from the market. We are tired of travelling miles to inquired about repairing the broken power transmitter which numerous times went in vain as they are made to wait for long days and that too they weren't able to meet the concern person", said Village Chief.

Since the BJP-led coalition government came into power in the state, Chief Minister Shri N.Biren Singh did mention his approach will be humanity approach to regain the lost trust among people of different communities living in the State and his slogan to bridge the gap between hill and valley is "Go to Hill" and whatever the diversities among different ethnic communities in the State we are one.

Will it be wrong to state that "Go to Hill" policy does not cover the villages settle near the border area of the State?

"If the broken transmitter can be repair at the earliest the villagers can have the electric facilities which they long for."

Mention may be that thought the village was electrified by a micro hydel project of 5 KW was installed by MANIREDA in the year 2014, it couldn't meet the power needed by the villagers and again the village was plunged into darkness.

In case of health care, a Primary Health Care is set up in the village but no doctor neither nurse is available to look after the villagers. "During emergencies, the villagers had to travel several kilometers away from the village for treatment crossing strenuous paths of hills and forests to reach hospitals located in the district. Many have lost their lives o the way before they could be treated", said Village Chief.

Similar is the case of education. Parents do not send their children to school as with the meager income that they earn they could only provide one thing: food or an education.

Most of the generation has dropped out of school after class 5 though many were able to continue their study by staying far from the villages, even in other state for further studies.

For many years, head of the village and representatives had done their best to bring enough substitute electricity and proper road system but till that all went in vain.

Pushing/Chingshou Village is rich in culture and high on patience, bears the brunt of electricity shortage and its people are bound to live life in the dark. This is the reason why one is bound to say that 'we have complaints even in this age.'

Pushing/Chingshou is a village located About 60 km south east of Ukhrul in Ukhrul District, Manipur and about 125 km from Imphal. Locally, the inhabitants speak Pushing tui which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family.

The village is home to people of Tangkhul Naga tribe. Majority of the inhabitants are Christians. Agriculture is the primary occupation of the inhabitants. The village is well known in the district for its scenic natural beauty.