Tamta’s adopted village still cries for facilities

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, August 16

The Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11, 2014, is a non-starter in the Kumaon region as villages adopted by MPs are still waiting for basic facilities.

Supi village in Kapkot subdivision of Bageshwar district, adopted by Almora MP and Union Minister of State for Textile Ajay Tamta, is still awaiting a concrete road up to the Kapkot market. “The work on road construction is on and we hope it will be completed by March next,” said Yashpal Singh, gram pradhan of Supi.

He says though the schemes worth Rs 50 lakh have been inaugurated in the village, none of these have been completed yet. “We have been promised a primary health centre in the village, but have got only an ANM centre,” said the gram pradhan.

“We have big plans for the village but getting no cooperation from the state government, resulting in delay of the projects,” said Ajay Tamta, MP from Almora.

According to the gram pradhan, besides lack of health facilities, the village is still short of educational facilities as the high school has no teachers since its adoption by the MP. “We have an intermediate college in the village but the shortage of five teachers, including principal, is a matter of concern,” said the gram pradhan.

The gram pradhan of Supi has said his village is full of natural resources and if developed properly, the village could really become a self-sustained village. According to villagers, out of 450 families in the village, 80 per cent of them have milk producing animals but have no cooperative dairy or collection centre nearby where the villagers can sell the milk.

Similarly, there is no proper facility for the purchase of sheep wool as over 30 per cent villagers produce local wool. “The village has a trekking route to the Pindari glacier, but has no lodging facilities for tourists. Every year over 500 tourists visit Pindari glacier but cannot stay in the village due to lack of tourism infrastructure,” said the pradhan.

Residents of Supi village have said they need proper market for their organic produce, besides medicinal herbs which they grow traditionally. “We want a regular bus service to Kapkot, so that we can sell milk, wool, local organic produce and craft goods made of ringal to the nearest market to earn money which could help the villagers economically,” said Daulat Singh, another villager from Supi village.