A village in Uttar Pradesh with a population of 800 people has come up with a unique way to protest against the lack of basic facilities and has decided to rename it to PoK (Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir). The village in question here is Simmranpur which falls under Kanpur district where villagers have started ‘PoK campaign’
Village Shopkeepers have also put up hoardings referring the village as PoK till the time basic facilities like electricity, school and dispensary reach here. Villagers decided to call it PoK as according to them the situation there is also same. “We have been reading in newspapers about PoK and its people living in servitude and neglect. Our condition is no different”, said Sonu who is one of the campaigners.
There is only one hand pump in the village which stopped functioning eight years ago and is now being used to tie the cattle. Many of the men are unmarried in the village as nobody wants to marry off their daughters because of lack of facilities in the village.
One of the residents of Simmranpur said, “The electricity poles in the village, which do not have wires, were erected by a contractor from his own resources when he was contesting the panchayat election in 2008. Electricity has not been made available in our village in the last 70 years. Even worse, we are going to have one of the biggest power plants near the village”.
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In the past, villagers approached MLAs to provide basic but no action was taken. Villagers says that many politicians are forcing them to end this campaign but they will not drop it until problem of water and electricity is resolved
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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