HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Aug 27: No 2 Bardhanara village in Nalbari district is completely deserted now, except for a single family of five. A complete lack of motorable roads and basic amenities is what has discouraged people from settling in it.
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Bimal Deka, his wife Anima and their three children — Naren, Dipali and Seuti — are the only dwellers of this village in Ghograpara circle, around 12 km from the headquarters town Nalbari. Agriculture and animal husbandry are the main sources of livelihood for this family.
It is strange considering the fact that the road leading to it had been inaugurated by a former chief minister Bishnuram Medhi a few decades ago.
From being a prosperous village in the last century to just 16 people in the 2011 census, the few families who lived here have also settled elsewhere in the past few years.
“We have to travel 2 km through water and muddy paths to reach the nearest motorable road to attend our school and college. During monsoons, we commute through a country boat,” Dipali said.
Anima rows the boat to ferry her children back and forth, but despite such tough conditions, the family has ensured proper education for all three.
While Dipali and Naren are graduates, Seuti is doing her higher secondary course.
With no electricity, the children study under the light of kerosene lamps. The boat becomes the sole mode of transportation for the family when it rains as all the paths within the village get submerged in water.
The condition of this revenue village spread across 162 hectares was not so pathetic till a few decades ago, people of nearby areas claimed.
Bardhanara was in fact known for high agricultural yield a few decades ago.
Anima said the apathy of local authorities has worsened the condition, which led villagers to eventually abandon it.
“Local agencies like the Zilla parishad, gaon panchayat or the block development office are not interested in carrying out any developmental work here,” she claimed.
With an NGO, Gramya Vikash Mancha, recently setting up an agricultural farm in the village, the family now gets to interact with other people more often.
The farm’s chairman Prithi Bhusan Deka said the village was once prosperous, but recurring floods have deserted it.
“If the government constructs a road and provides basic amenities, the agricultural potential can again be realized and people will return to the village,” he added. (With inputs from PTI)
