As many as 275 households at 17 remote Maoist-affected villages in Chhattisgarh’s Mohla-Manpur Ambagarh Chowki district recently got connected to the electrical grid.
The 17 villages are on the hills or surround the hills, covered by dense forests. The district has Bastar region to the south and Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district to the west.
The 17 villages house a total of 540 households, of which 275 have received electricity connection to their homes. Work is underway to provide electricity to the remaining houses of those who have applied for a connection, officials said.
The connection comes at a cost of Rs 3 crore under the Mukhyamantri Majratola Vidyutikaran Yojana.
These remote villages are 30-50 km from the district headquarters. “All the villages have been affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE). The electricity connectivity will bring a new ray of hope to their lives,” said Mohala Manpur Collector Tulika Prajapati.
“The biggest challenge was to transport and install equipment to villages located in dense forest and on and around the hills. We also got clearance from the forest department as the villages are on forest land,” said A K Ramteke, executive engineer, Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB).
The villages are Katuljhora, Kattapar, Bodra, Bukmarka, Sambalpur, Gattegahan, Pugda, Amakodo, Petemeta, Tatekasa, Kundalkal, Raimanhora, Nainguda, Metatodke, Kohkatola, Edasmeta and Kunjakanhar.
A Petemeta village resident, Lakesh Ussare, whose household is yet to get the electricity connection, told , “We have still not received electricity in our household, but it has reached the streets of our village. So far, we have been dependent on solar lights, but they run out of charge by 8 pm, after which we live in the dark.”
Ussare, a former sarpanch of the village, said the situation becomes even worse during the monsoon season “as there is no proper road connectivity and the entire village gets muddy, making it difficult to do any activity”.
“I am happy that we are getting electricity and urge the government to speed up the work. We have filled up the forms,” he said.
