Shocking story of Gundra Beel, the Assam village that has schools but no electricity

TEZPUR: One will be shocked to learn that a Gundra Beel -- a village located less than 12 kilometres away from Tezpur town in Assam's Sonitpur district-- is yet to receive the boon of electricity, even 70 years after India got its independence.

Gundra Beel, is populated by around 200-300 people and surprise surprise, has two schools. Although electric poles have been set up at several points in the village, they merely stand there like showpieces.

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7 months ago, local MLA Ganesh Limbu visited this village and said that the problems of the villagers would be ameliorated, but to no avail.

Today, two youths affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) -- Krishnanu Sharma and Ishanu Sharma -- met the Deputy Commissioner of the Sonitpur district, urging him to take steps to resolve the long-standing problem of Gundra Beel.

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"We urged the DC to ensure that there is electricity connection in this village. The village is populated by people of all faiths, which is perhaps the reason why it has flown below the radar of the political parties as they do not form the vote bank for any particular party. These poor people have collected money from time to time to visit the town urging the Government to resolve the situation, but to no avail," Krishnanu told Inside Northeast.

The fact that the area is inhabited by wild elephants has added to the woes of the villagers. "This year alone, one house has been damaged thrice by elephants - surely the addition of lights in the village will deter pachyderms," stated a villager.

"Due to the fact that we don't have electricity, elephants have at times laid waste to some of the village houses and crops. Wish they brought electricity here, to ease some of our woes," lamented another villager.

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