Adopted by ex-CM Shanta, nothing ‘Adarsh’ about Chachian village

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 13

Chachian is a village located on Dharamsala-Chamundaji-Palampur road. The village was selected as Adarsh village as per the Central Government scheme on the recommendation of BJP MP from Kangra, Shanta Kumar, for 2018-19.

Under the Adarsh scheme, the village was to be developed as a model of development. However, after about a year after the declaration as Adarsh village, nothing has happened to make it a model village.

Senior officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said even the development plan of the village was yet to be made. Under the Adarsh village scheme, initially a development plan for making village a model village is made with inputs from the villagers. The funds were to be released by various government departments. However, in Chachian nothing of this sort has been done so far.

The pradhan of the village, Suresh Pathania, admitted that nothing has come to the village under the Adarsh village scheme. He said BJP MP Shanta Kumar had given Rs 5 lakh from his MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund for improving the cremation ground of the village. Beyond that nothing special has come for our village under the Adarsh village scheme, he said.

Pathania said the village had Community Health Centre (CHC) which has four doctors and a senior secondary government school. He said some tracks in the village were still to be constructed and these could not be covered under MGNREGA. The village had no electricity problem but faced problem of water in summers in some areas, he said.

Inquiries by The Tribune have revealed that the village has not got anything special under various developmental schemes of the Centre and state. About 40 cases for grant under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) have been sent for approval by the village panchayat. However, till date the grant has not been sanctioned even in one case. No one has benefitted under the Ujwala Yojana of the Centre. However, 38 LPG connections have been given under the Grahni Yojana of the state government.

Population 

2,221

Voters 

1,520

Families  

600

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana 

• It is a rural development programme that stresses on nurturing values of national pride, patriotism, community spirit, self-confidence and developing infrastructure
• Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 October, 2014, the scheme aims at providing village people with quality access to basic amenities and opportunities