Premvati Devi from Anandpur village, which got power supply last month under government's rural electrification scheme.
Highlights
- Anandapur got power last month under the rural electrification project
- Each house now has an LED bulb and an electricity meter.
- 50 km away, Golnagar still waits for electricity
Less than 250 km from Delhi, but miles away from electricity: That was the state of Anandpur village till last month. Under the government's rural electrification programe, the village in western Uttar Pradesh got power lines installed last month.
Each house now has an LED bulb and an electricity meter.
"Three generations here and it is only now that we have seen electricity. Living through the dark at nights was terrifying. This will change now," said 80-year-old Premvati Devi, cleaning up wheat by the light of an electric bulb. She hadn't imagined it possible in her lifetime.
She is yet to get used to the loud music blaring from her neighbour's house, where the children of the village gather for an impromtpu music and dance session.
Though it's not 24-hour of power supply, electricity has changed lives of people.
In Golnagar, Meena Devi waits for electricity. Her village is on the government's list of villages that will be supplied with power by March 2017.
Three-year-old Akash and his brothers now sit in front of a whirring water cooler, a welcome relief from the punishing heat outside. Till last month, the cooler had been packed away.
Less than 50 km away, in her village of Golnagar, in the flickering light of a single oil lamp, Meena Devi is waiting for that change to arrive.
Golnagar has had a new transformer for a few months now, but no power connection. Whatever electricity reaches here is through illegal connections. Locals tap into the power supply meant for the tubewells in the field.
"The tubewell transformer doesn't have the capacity for taking so many connections. When tubewells are switched on, the load increases and the one odd bulb used in the house also starts flickering," explains Om Prakash.
The lack of electricity is also leading to some unusual social problems. "It's difficult to get brides for our children," said Meena Devi. "Once they find out there is no power supply here, they decline marriage proposals."
Over 7,500 villages have been reached under the rural electrification programme in the last two years. The government has set itself a target of 18,452 villages by March 2017.