Click to play videoKharoudi (Punjab): Daulatpur village wears a new look today. This Punjab village now has a school, a stadium, computers, gymnasium, school buses and other facilities. And for all this, it has to thank 65-year-old Kehar Singh Thandi.
Thandi returned home two years ago after working in the US and Canada. He has been organising funds from non-resident Indians for his village's development.
“The social function was the main aim of the NRIs to develop Punjab through their economic contributions,” says Thandi.
Many villages across Punjab are receiving similar help from their NRI sons. And the people are appreciating the good work done by these Samaritans.
“All sewerage will become concealed, there will be lighting, there will be proper drains. Villagers here feel that it is a great deed done by the NRI brothers for their brethren in the villages,” says a villager Taranjit Singh.
The partnership between the state and NRIs has brought in more efficiency in development work.
“Earlier a lot of money that was coming in from NRIs was getting spent on religious places like Gurudwaras and temples. We decided to partner with them on a 50-50 matching grant basis and are developing villages,” says Deputy Commissioner, Nawanshahr, Bhawna Garg.
The lines between urban and rural areas are getting blurred in Punjab, thanks to the crores being pumped in by NRIs used to high living standards abroad.
These NRIs try to replicate those standards back in their ancestral villages, making it a win-win situation for all.
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