Villagers Rename A UP Village As ‘PoK’ In Protest Of Poor Governance And Lack Of Facilities

UP-Village-POK

800 residents of a village in Kanpur’s Daulatpur gram panchayat (of Ghatampur), Simmranpur have got the much-needed attention, they have longed for a really long time. The villagers are fed up with poor governance and the lack of basic facilities which they are entitled to.

So, in protest, the residents have changed the name of the village from Simmranpur to PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir), saying that their condition is no less than them.

Simmranpur (HT Photo) Image Source

The village lacks educational and health facilities, electricity, proper roads, school, and a dispensary. There was just one hand pump, which also stopped working eight years ago and is now used to tie cattle around.

 

The village shopkeepers came together last Thursday and put up placards around which read that the only option left, for them now, was renaming it. One of them read,

Simmranpur (HT Photo)Image Source

“We will keep referring to the village as PoK till the time electricity, water and proper roads are made available to us.”

 

Sonu Yadav who is one of the campaigners told Hindustan Times,

We have been reading in newspapers about PoK and its people living in servitude and neglect. Our condition is no different. The people approached BJP MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga but no action was taken. Earlier too, the villagers raised the issue with SP MLA Munidra Shukla but he took no action.”

 

Another villager, Vinay Mishra after spending 14 years in Mumbai came back to the village, added to the woes saying,

Simmranpur (HT Photo)Image Source
“The electricity poles in the village, which do not have wires, were erected by a contractor from his own resources when he was contesting the panchayat election in 2008. Electricity has not been made available in our village in the last 70 years. Even worse, we are going to have one of the biggest power plants near the village.”

 

The village falls under Daulatpur gram panchayat, which by the way is not only electrified but also has a water tank and a school and other facilities. The villagers are miffed with the MPs and the MLAs, who according to them release funds to other villages but not to Simmranpur.

In a village of hundreds, merely 30 of them have ration cards in place but the quotadaar (who runs the fair price shop) refuses to give kerosene to them. So, not only do they have no electricity, they even don’t have access to kerosene.

On top of all this, another major problem the men of the village face. No family is willing to marry off their daughter into a village which lacks every basic facility. Hence, dozens are unmarried.

There certainly has been pressure on them to drop the name, but they are putting up a united front. They are standing firm on their demands and will only nudge when water and electricity are made available to them.

Source: Hindustan Times

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