As Central team visits,Lucknow village sees upturn in fortune

The reason: Kalli Pashchim will see Vijay Kelkar,chairperson of the XIII Finance Commission,visit on July 15 or 16 and the officials are attempting to present the village as a model one.

Safai karamcharis of four nearby blocks have been brought in the village. “Nearly 66 safai karmis from Sarojini Nagar block have been working here for nearly a week. Besides,safai karmis from Mohanlalganj,Kakori and Gosaiganj have also been employed,” said Amit Shukla,a safai karamchari of Sarojini Nagar block.

Interestingly,the village panchayat,comprising 14 hamlets,had just one safai karmi till date,even though the village has nearly 6,000 voters.

 “The school here never had electricity. The poles were set up 3-4 days ago,” said Raju Kumar Rawat,a former student of the school. “There was a heap of garbage near the school which was also cleaned up,” said Surendra Rawat,a village boy. “The whole show is temporary because of some official visiting the village,” said Jiyalal,who had no clue who Kelkar is.

“The only hand-pump in our colony is not working for the last one year,” said Lakshmi,a villager.

Gram panchayat officials,however,claim the development work is ‘just another routine work’. “The block got the funds just now and hence the work,which is merely a continuation of previous works,” said Raja Ram Master,a member of Kshetra Panchayat.

The condition in the next hamlet,Amol,is much worse. The villagers here go to bed by dusk because the village has never seen electricity. Villagers find it hard to get drinking water and the overflowing drains tell no safai karamchari has visited the area in months. “No official visits this village,so nobody bothers to clean the place,” said AK Awasthi,a member of the village Panchayat.