This 'adopted' village has a paved road, no transport to take you there

GHAZIABAD: When Mirpur Hindu village on the outskirts of Loni’s Tronica city in Ghaziabad came up for adoption under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, BJP’s sitting MP, General (retd) VK Singh got the nondescript village through a draw of lots. Four years since adoption, the village is not nondescript anymore.

Paved roads, a primary school equipped with a smart classroom and mobile phone towers show that a lot has changed in the village, although most of the development happened in the past two years, villagers said. “The roads you see today were literally non-existent till a couple of years ago. Now, they are all paved and clean,” said Rohit Tyagi, a bike mechanic.

A walk through the village revealed cemented, interlocking tiled roads that were surprisingly clean. One is drawn towards a primary school — the only government school in the village — the walls of which are splashed in colours with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Swachh Bharat slogans written on them.

A class was in progress and children could be heard reciting poems inside.

“It was unheard of till recently, as very few children attended school. There was no infrastructure or amenities,” said Adesh Kumar, the school headmaster. Now, the school has 207 children in the primary wing and 142 in the junior section (Classes VI to VIII).

The village has two other private schools. “It was the effort of general saab who first got a branch of Syndicate Bank to open in the village and the smart class has been sponsored by the bank itself,” said Monu Tyagi, the village pradhan. “Cell phone connectivity was a big problem. But General saab persuaded the companies to install towers,” Monu added. Recently, a post-office was opened in the village and an overhead water tank set up.

“Not only General saab but his wife and daughter too visit the village often. They speak to the women here and listen to our problems” said Babita, a villager. “They ask us to keep the village clean,” she added.

Mirpur Hindu village has been declared open-defecation-free. “The power situation has also improved,” said Babita.

General (retd) Singh said he had been working tirelessly since adopting the village. “During my first visit to Mirpur in 2015, I found the roads and basic civic amenities in a pathetic condition. For the first two years, a lot of effort went in planning. Actual work on the ground started only two years ago. The village now looks completely transformed,” he said.

Situated off the Delhi-Saharanpur Road, Mirpur Hindu village, with a population of about 3,500, is one among a dozen in the area. Most people are farmers and the village also provides labour force to industrial belts in Loni and adjoining Badarpur, towards Delhi.

For a first-time visitor, reaching Mirpur from the Delhi-Saharanpur Road might be difficult. A 4km serpentine road that takes one to the village is tough to negotiate. While almost all good things have happened in Mirpur Hindu village in the past few years, connectivity is still a problem. “Taking the road at night is scary. Lack of transportation adds to the problem. I had hoped that General saab would do something about it,” said a resident of the village that will vote on April 11.

“A government hospital is also much needed here. Loni does not have a government hospital and we have to go to Delhi’s GTB Hospital (about 10km from the village),” he added. On the issue of a 4km approach road from the Delhi-Saharanpur side, MP Singh said funds had been sanctioned.