Click to play videoChandigarh: A village in Punjab finally got electricity and water for the first time since Independence. Thanks to the Border Security Force.
Farmer Jaipal Singh owns 35 acres of land in Ramdas area of Amritsar on the Indo-Pak border. Although it is a sizeable holding, Jaipal Singh has not been able to reap benefits from his land for more than 20 years.
That's when the Indo Pak border was fenced and Jaipal was not allowed to visit the fields he owned unless accompanied by a BSF soldier.
Farmers were also not allowed to get electric connections across the fence to irrigate their fields, which forced them to use diesel generators to power tubewells, a costly and cumbersome option.
However, now all that is set to change. The BSF is giving them access to electric power
Commanding Officer, 153 Battalion BSF Vijayendra Kumar said, "We received applications from seven farmers requesting to give them electricity across the fencing. So we have, along with the cooperation of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), made plans to grant them their request."
The Border Security Force is now allowing the PSEB to lay underground power cables.
This was discussed in a meeting with the farmers where it was decided that overhead electric lines could pose grave danger to the BSF soldiers, villagers and farmers in the border area.
The BSF has also requested the state to bear expenses of this project, so that farmers are spared the burden.
Jaipal Singh said, “(In Punjabi) Now I will be able to get two crops in a year which will improve my financial position.”
There are many like Jaipal Singh who will finally have access to irrigation at a subsidised rate. The farmers with lands across the fence are happy that they will now have the resources to match their counterparts in the state.
(With inputs from Avneet Teja).
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