SANGUEM: For 10 years four houses in Matarkon, Dhargini village, under Bhati Village Panchayat, in Sanguem, are in darkness.
The file for giving them electricity is collecting dust in some corner of the sub-division, of the Electricity Department for the last 10 years.
A frustrated villager, Surya Velip, said he has repeatedly informed the local politicians but has received only assurances.
Despite the file regarding giving power to these four houses was prepared 10 years ago, the families say the negligence has left the four families in darkness, in Liberated Goa, sabotaging all their work.
“We have small children. They get fed up without the lights. What will we do? Children suffer so much. We don’t send them to balwadi, we get scared to go over the water (due to the precarious bridge). We don’t even get proper kerosene. Children cry once the lights go off,” said Shakuntala Velip, Surya’s wife.
But Surya, who decided to take matters into his own hands, generates power for two bulbs from a water-powered generator.
But this source of power is fraught with difficulties. The water-powered generator frequently gets stuck. Thereafter, it requires Velip to trudge 2 km to restart it. This journey involves crossing two large rivers that flood in the rainy season. At night, the circumstances are dangerously challenging due to the presence of wild animals and the difficult sloping terrain.
Making a livelihood in Dhargini village is equally challenging. Surya’s attempt to start a dairy business has also suffered due to the lack of electricity. Out of the six cows he bought, five have died, and the one remaining is weak and is likely to fall sick.
Besides power, accessibility to the village simply does not exist. There is no proper road. The residents have to cross a small bridge made of wooden and iron pavers to reach their homes.
“The path to our houses passes through the forest. Sometimes when we are delayed, we have to cross this forest at around midnight. It is very scary due to the wild animals. There are lot of thorns along the path. Sometimes this area gets flooded. It’s risky to cross the river. See how we are suffering,” Surya’s son Sahil told O Heraldo.
Manjeli Premanand Velip recounted, “We don’t have any road here. If we wish to do any work, there is no road here and there is no bus service. We can’t go by anyone’s car since the road further on is very bad. If someone falls ill, there is great difficulty. There is no hope of calling 108 Ambulance. There is no proper bridge, it is made of wooden poles and metal plates. We have no other option to cross the river.”
Education for the village children is an even gigantic challenge. In the monsoon, especially amid torrential rains, as witnessed in 2024, parents are not sending their children to school. They fear the rising water in the river might cause the makeshift bridge to collapse, as their wards walk across to school.
This lack of access to education further compounds the difficulties faced by the community, which has already been struggling without reliable electricity for over a decade. The promises of e-learning and internet ring hollow for the village students since there is no power and internet connectivity in their village.
Atma Nirbhar: One villager generates power for two bulbs from water-powered generator
Surya Velip decided that he would find a helping hand at the end of his own arm. He adopted a DIY method by purchasing a water-powered generator and installed it at the base of a waterfall, to generate electricity.
Surya Velip walks 2 kms to restart his generator which kickstarts his mini hydro power system to light just two bulbs
He crosses two large rivers that flood in the rainy season. At night, there are wild animals and sloping terrain.
