Phulbari: Meet Kanthu Marak, a 67-year-old from the village of Kantarongre, about 4 km from the heart of Chibinang, one of the busiest spots in Meghalaya.
Kanthu is an affable man. He loves his biri and sharing drinks with friends. There is nothing extraordinary about him, except that he lives in a village which is yet to witness the ‘magic’ of electricity.
Habilson M Marak is a resident of Bangranggre, another village close to Chibinang. His confusion is also related to electricity, but his concerns are slightly more complicated: he is baffled by the power bills his neighbours have received, even though the village is yet to be connected to the power grid. There are electric posts in his village, yes, but those were never connected to any power line.
He has been going from pillar to post to find out why.
When EastMojo arrived in Kankarongre at about 6 pm, Kanthu greeted this correspondent and took him with two others to visit the house of the Nokma (village head), Sebalson Sangma.
Nokma’s house, however, was lit, which he explained was through a private line he purchased like nine other residents of the same village.
“We have 45 households and about 40 job cards in our village… we have had an increase of at least 5-6 households despite the fact that there is no electricity in our village,” said Nokma Sebalson.
“We have not had electricity in our village since I was born. We have seen elders pass away before our eyes without witnessing one of the modern wonders – electricity. What can we say, we have tried but failed,” said Kanthu.
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When asked if they had contacted authorities, the villagers nodded and said they ran from pillar to post and tried everything to get power lines into their village.
“We met the MeECL authorities in Phulbari (which has a sub-division). They asked us to contact the Garobadha office. This was more than 30 years ago when all villages were getting electricity connections. When we reached Garobadha, they said the files were in Tura, Rongkhon. When we reached Rongkhon, there was no office but just the power grid itself. We have been going around in circles since, but no one has heeded our pleas,” Kanthu told EastMojo.
The villagers said the power department performed three surveys in their village, each time raising their hopes of connecting to the power grid, but these were all false alarms.
“Every time they come to our village, it raises our hopes that we will finally get what has become a basic amenity in rest of the country and world. But despite three surveys and assurances, we are still living in the dark. We have lost all hope of ever getting current lines in our homes despite all our best efforts,” said Nidila Marak, another resident.
When contacted, a lineman confirmed the surveys. When asked why power lines were not connected, he feigned ignorance and asked us to contact the senior officials. The SDO of Phulbari, however, could not be contacted.
“This is everything that is wrong with our state. We have departments that are too lazy to move and politicians more interested in pleasing their vote banks. How irresponsible can someone get?” asked social activist Peter Sangma.
Solar helps, but only so much
Kanthu said like many in the village, they improvised and sought solar energy.
“My home runs on solar power, not by choice but by necessity. Many of my neighbours also have moved to solar energy, but it is not enough for our entire homes. The summers are killing due to us having no electricity to run our fans,” he said.
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Others, informed the Nokma, were using generators to live through the times. “It is extremely costly to run these and most of my village people are low-income folks who can hardly afford food, forget generators. Some of us who could afford private lines did so through our connections. We have no connection to any electric lines,” said Sebalson.
Peter felt the neglect shown by the authorities as well as public representatives was criminal and needed to be punished.
No electricity, but power bills have come
The same evening, after news of our visit to Kankarongre, we received another call from a resident in the village of Bangranggre.
We moved the next morning to the village and were in for a bigger shock. At least 50 households from Bangranggre and another 70 households from nearby Matramchigre were without an electricity connection since the country gained Independence.
In what can only be described as a cruel joke, the power department was providing households with bills despite there being no electricity.
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The villages fall under the Tikrikilla constituency in West Garo Hills and in what can only be described as irony, one resident is a lineman with the MeECL, but for reasons unknown, has never taken up the issue of the non-existence of electricity in the village.
“Some of us got electricity through private lines by paying huge amounts to the department. But some of our houses got smart meters even though we had no power connection. These are being used to decorate our homes. We had hopes that we would get electricity through the Saubhagya scheme but that too has become a pipe dream,” said Habilnath M Marak, a resident.
Attempts to contact the village lineman failed as his number was switched off.
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All attempts to contact the department in question failed as no one seemed to have an answer to why they actually failed the three villages in question. There was also silence from the public leaders on how they have forsaken these people despite them being their own people.
For Peter, the entire experience was humbling, to say the least.
“I did not expect to find so many villages and so many people going without power for so long and no one even knew about it. What the department and the leaders have done is completely unethical and amounts to criminal neglect. This must be rectified with immediately or we will file a case against them,” stated Peter.
Peter added that he felt something was amiss as there were complaints from many residents being given power bills despite the fact that they never have been connected.
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“I think an inquiry needs to be done as I feel there is something wrong in what is happening. Unless they are registered as users, why would they be billed? Further, the Saubhagya Scheme has promised to electrify all villages so why have these places not been connected yet,” he stated.
Habilson was baffled when asked to pay Rs 500 for the installation of a smart meter. He did so in the hope that they would finally be connected to the power grid, but the smart meter currently dangles from a part of his house.
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