10 years later, they live in dark ages

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, June 22

The tall claims made by the state government of providing basic amenities fall flat. Nearly 80 families have been forced to live without electricity, potable water supply and sewerage in Mahatma Gandhi Basti at Risalu village of the district.

The gram panchayat had allotted 104 plots of 100 sq metres to members of weaker sections of the village under the Mahatma Gandhi Awaas Yojana in 2008.

Eighty families constructed their houses in the colony and started living there, but they failed to get electricity and drinking water connections.

Deen Dayal, Lal Chand, Kamlesh, Santosh, Hawa Singh and Lachman Das, all residents of the colony, said, “We are forced to live without basic amenities for the past 10 years. There are no electricity and drinking water facilities and no proper drainage system in the colony.”

Many plot holders had applied for electricity during a ‘khula darbar’, which was organised in the village in December 2016, but to no avail, said Jai Devi, another resident of the colony. They had deposited security money for the electricity, but UHBVN employees refused to issue the connections by stating that there were no electricity poles and no “pukka” road to reach the colony, they alleged.

Besides, they had also met then Congress MP Arvind Sharma and MLAs and BJP MP Ashwani Chopra and MLA Mahipal Dhanda and senior officials of the district administration, but nobody was paying any heed to their genuine demands, they said.

“We bring drinking water from tubewells installed in nearby fields and if the owners don’t run their tubewells, then we have to bring it from factories located in Sector 29,” said Deen Dayal.

The government was claiming to give grant for construction of houses and toilets to the BPL families, but not a single rupee was given to the colony residents, he said.

Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria said, “A committee has been constituted. Members of the panel, including District Development and Panchayat Officer, XEN, UHBVN, and XEN, Public Health and Engineering Department, would visit the colony submit the report within three days.”

“We will prepare an action plan of providing the basis amenities in the colony after getting the report,” she added.