Patna: Residents of Saradhapur village under Chakundapal panchayat in Patna block of Keonjhar district are a happy lot after the village was electrified 72 years after Independence.
The development in the village came days after Orissa POST published a report about the plight of the residents due to lack of electricity. The report was published July 19.
About 12 days after this report, the energy department and the administration were jolted awake.
Following a direction from electrical SDO Kartik Chandra Sahu and engineer Chiranjit Sahu, power was supplied to 24 families in the village Wednesday afternoon.
They expressed happiness over the electricity and thanked the newspaper.
The villagers pointed out that the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) is being implemented in the district to provide electricity to the poor, but they were deprived of benefits, despite the village having been included in it two years ago.
As the village is located close to a forested area, residents used to panic at night fearing attack from wild animals. Children used to study under earthen lamps, Sukanta Behera, a villager, added.
PNN