'Talibanisation' is passe at Mundigari

CHANDIGARH: Medieval ways and means of life at Mundigari village, 25 km from Karnal, first highlighted by TOI, witnessed drastic changes in villagers’ attitude within one-and-a-half months, courtesy efforts made by an NGO and district administration.
On Saturday, Niyaz Hasan, ex-sarpanch of the village said, "Within 45 days, about 30 families have bought new television sets." People were now opening to changes happening around them, he said.However, he said, it wasn’t as though the whole village was "Talibanised" then. Due to pressure from certain quarters, the whole village had to abide by certain verbal edicts. A Karnal-based social worker, Raj Singh Chaudhary, said the district administration has started a cleanliness drive in the village. Also an educational awareness campaign has been taken up in the village after it came to light that not a single person has ever been employed as a government servant. The only woman, who was employed as an anganwadi worker, Jaiton, was given a compensatory job after her husband, who was in the army, died long ago.
Chaudhary said that about a dozen youths have recently filled up forms to take up jobs in Haryana police. Even CD players, radios sets and mobile sets have increased in the village during the past one month, sources said.
Earlier, deputy commissioner of Karnal, BS Malik and sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) RK Singh visited the village to see for themselves the state of affairs there. Talking to TOI, Malik however clarified, "I don’t think there is anything special about the village as regards sanitation. I had gone there after the monsoons, which was a kind of regular affair. For the cleanliness drive, the BDO concerned had visited the village."