Gadkari Started Projects in Adopted Village, But Gaon Maange More

EXCLUSIVE I Many projects have been initiated in the Pachgaon village, but a lot of them are only halfway done.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

(Image: Kamran Akhtar/The Quint)

Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

Producer: Anubhav Mishra

(Are the ‘achhe din’ here for villages adopted by PM Modi's star MPs? Watch The Quint’s ground reports from villages adopted under the 'Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ (SAGY))

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari had adopted the Pachgaon village in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district under the Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).

The MP has spent Rs 18 crore for the development of the village, which has a population of 4,500.

Several projects were initiated by Gadkari to convert Pachgaon into an ‘adarsh’ village, but these projects have progressed slowly.

This is the fourth village in The Quint’s series named ‘Our MP’s Village: Achhe Din?’. We have earlier reported on MP Hema Malini, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s village.

Main Objectives of SAGY?

The main objective of SAGY was to have the MPs cater to the needs of their adopted village and work towards its holistic development. Some of the goals that the MPs were to achieve under SAGY were:

• Education facilities
• Cleanliness
• Health facility
• Skill development
• Livelihoods
• Basic amenities (Electricity, Pucca houses, roads, WiFi)
• Good governance

The government kick started the SAGY project with the goal to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one would be achieved by 2016.

The village head of Pachgaon told The Quint that most of the development projects have been completed.

“43 projects have been completed ever since Nitin Gadkari adopted this village.”

Shrimati Mesharam, Gram Pradhan, Pachgaon

To bring in transparency, a cemented stone board was fixed in the heart of the village which revealed the break-up of the amount spent on 15 projects by Gadkari since he adopted the village.

But initiating projects isn’t enough...

List of 15 projects initiated by Gadkari under SAGY.(Image: The Quint)

Delay In Completion Of Projects

Most of the villagers were pleased that several projects were initiated by Gadari. But the slow progress in the completion of the projects have become a concern for many residents of Pachgaon.

A new hospital project worth Rs 1.5 crore might miss the deadline for completion, which is December 2018.

“The hospital work is supposed to finish by December this year. Initially, the hospital construction process was fast-paced, but in the past one month, it has slowed down. MP Gadkari allocated money to us to quicken the process of construction, but it’s not happening. Now the problem is that around 200 patients visit old hospital every day. So if the new hospital is up and running soon, we will be able to provide better medical services to the people.

Dr Chandra Suresh Charandas Dongarwarji, Head of the hospital

A new primary school has been built, a project worth Rs 1.44 crore, but it is non-functional due to the lack of water supply.

“A lot of work has been done, but the progress is slow. The school building has been constructed, but since then, there has been no supply of water.”

Sohel Khan, Resident, Pachgaon

Rs 6.93 crore was allocated for drinking water supply in the village. But the pipelines have not been laid yet, so the water supply is still not on. Villagers in Pachgaon still have to travel some distance to get water.

“Our main problem is that of water supply. There is no water in the ponds, and the water pipelines have not been laid yet. If the pipelines are laid, we wouldn’t have to go far to get drinking water.”

Kunal Patel, Resident, Pachgaon 

Residents of Pachgaon are happy that so many projects were initiated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, but they will remain deprived of certain basic amenities till some of these projects are completed.