Drinking water, metalled roads, solar lights change Haldera

Haldera, Kurukshetra, Aug 6 (UNI) This remote and undeveloped village, about two km off NH-I, close to Shahbad, had remained untouched by the winds of change and prosperity. Until a 5-year old boy, Prince, fell into a borewell and was pulled out after 50 long hours.

Politicians normally avoided the village and if they did come it was just to woo the 400-odd voters with promises of providing drinking water facilities to every household or improving the drinking water supply.

'' The promises were never fulfilled and we continued to live in deplorable conditions '' recalls Ram Piari the woman sarpanch of the village. Amarjit Singh Kalra, a prosperous farmer of the area said that it was unfortunate that while development took place in a number of villages all around but Haldera remained untouched.

'' Prince ne kooye mei girna tha, aur hamare gaon ki kaya paltani thi'',(Prince had to fall in the well and our village was to undergo a change), the villagers here say while pointing out that the five year old kid was responsible for the transformation that the village was undergoing.

Politicians called the boy the 'shaan' (pride) of Haryana, but for the villagers, Prince is and will continue to be the 'shaan' of Haldera. On July 23 when Prince was rescued from the 60-feet deep bore well in the village, a host of political leaders including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda came here to proclaim the five -year-old boy as the 'pride of the state' and promised all help from the government to develop this village into a 'model gram'.

The Chief Minister has indeed kept his word and he revisited the village to announce a number of developmental works, which are now going on at a fairly fast pace. All around one can see busy hands lifting bricks or cement bags to bring about a change in this village, that once resembled the backyard of an automobile garage.

The borewell of the submersible well in which Prince fell on the evening of July 21 has been filled up and even the well which was used by the army engineers to rescue Prince has 'disappeared'.

Another submersible well has been dug up which is ready to supply water to the entire village.

The work of laying underground water pipes in near completion and soon every household will have taps to drink safe drinking water. A sewerage system is also being laid in the village and the residents here will soon have flush toilets, something that was unheard of here.

The residents will no longer see the 'kucha' lanes and bylanes or the puddles of water into which their children fell while playing. The village will now have metalled roads and they will have no difficulty moving around from one house to another in the rainy season.

Employees of the state electricity board are busy streamlining the power supply and the overhead wires which used to dangle all around the village have been tightened.The state government has promised to install solar street lights in the village. A general store for providing subsidised household items to the residents will be opening shortly.

The Chief Minister has promised to open a veterinary hospital here and the residents have also demanded that the primary school should be upgraded to the middle level. The Punjab National Bank will be opening its branch in the village for the benefit of the residents who had to travel all the way to Samplki village to open their account or withdraw money.

Prince has not only brought luck to the village, but also to his family. His father,Ram Chander a daily wage farm labourer who earned Rs 90 a day to support his wife and three children, is a happy man these days.

The state government has already given Ram Chander a sum of Rs two lakh and money is also flowing from other sources. '' I will educate my children so that they can earn a good living'', Ram Chander said while referring to Prince who had never been to the village school.

Prince who has been promised free education by the government is content with playing with his friends and is not aware of his father's plans of sending him to school.

UNI HS RP HT1552