This village is yet to see power

haveri: two decades of relentless struggle and one solemn assurance. this, perhaps, sums up the efforts of gangyanur villagers in haveri district who have been fighting hard to get their homes illuminated. if the karnataka power transmission corporation limited (kptcl) commits a breach in its promise, the villagers will launch a hunger strike on january 1.ever since the dreaded plague played havoc decades ago, this village continues to grope in the dark. a village of 40 houses with a population of about 400, gangyanur is every social scientist's nightmare come true. bracketed under the taluk of shiggaon, gangyanur does not have electricity despite the seemingly striking presence of electric poles every few yards. but this initiative of the kptcl does not mean much to the villagers who solely depend on lantern, come sunset. for more than 20 years now, the villagers have been calling on officials and elected representatives of the taluk but to no avail. at least seven tahsildars have visited the village assuring electricity. it's the singular lack of political will that has landed the village in the lap of darkness, a villager said and added: ``we have met mla sayyed ajjampeer khadri several times but nobody has made sincere attempts to connect the village.'' if anybody thought that gangyanur is one of those boondocks, here's a rundown on its geographic locale: a three-minute drive from the shiggaon taluk headquarters and once a village bigger than neighbouring savanur and shiggaon (which turned taluks in haveri district after the j.h. patel government reorganised the districts circa 1997). only four months ago did the kptcl put up electric poles but cables are yet to be drawn. the villagers said gangyanur virtually emptied itself into shiggaon after plague visited the region. in 1981, some of the courageous villagers trekked back to the place of their origin and rebuilt home, hearth and their lives. a meeting with kptcl executive engineer b.b. aratal has elicited the all-too-familiar response: ``things will be set right soon.'' the official version has it that electric conductor was not available and some land owners objected to the power line passing over the fields. hence, the delay. but this argument has very few takers. the elected representatives have assured that papers for electricity lines were being cleared by the higher authorities, cables would be drawn and the village would be connected soon through the tadas feeder, which is located near hubli. consequent to the absence of electricity, the village depends willy-nilly on the lone borewell. and there is a severe problem of potable water too. the villagers walk down a distance of 3 km to fetch drinking water. town panchayat members nagaraj gangenur and savakka belavalakoppa said: ``the government talks of information technology and biotechnology park but forgets the basic demand of villages like gangyanur. we need on priority electricity, drinking water and school building -- and in that order.''