The residents of a tiny village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district have found a unique way of protesting against the lack of basic facilities – by renaming their village ‘PoK’.
Simmranpur’s population of 800 collectively arrived at the decision to rename their village, as they felt the situation was as horrible as the actual ‘Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’. Placards and banners have been put up in shops around the village stating that the new name will stay until their demands for basic amenities are met.
Simmranpur is 70 years old, but we still don’t have electricity, water, toilets. Poles were erected 2-3 years ago, but there are no power lines. A 11,000-volt line runs through here, but to another village. The village chief doesn’t acknowledge the problems. He claims we have not voted for him.Vijay Mishra, Resident
The village has no bathrooms, making things extremely difficult for women and kids. The village possesses a solitary hand pump, which stopped functioning around eight years ago and is now used to tie cattle.
The residents claim that their village chief has distanced himself from their issues, blaming them for not voting for him.
(With inputs from Vivek Mishra in Kanpur)
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
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