The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Lamps for I-Day

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Friday, Aug 17, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Lamps for I-Day

Staff Reporter

Villagers light lamps in front of their homes to celebrate freedom

Photo: K.V.Ramana

Burning bright: A resident lights a lamp on the I-Day in Mudakpally village of Nizamabad district.

MUDAKPALLY (NIZAMABAD Dt.): People of this village, 12 km from the district headquarter town, where not even 50 per cent are literate, joined in the festivities by lighting lamps in front of their houses on the Independence Day evening.

Lights were lit in front of over half of the houses here irrespective of caste, creed and religion in the village. Residents in this village lit lamps responding to a query posed by the recently launched weekly magazine Eebhoomi. Pamphlets were distributed on behalf of the magazine on Wednesday morning askingvillagers to light up lamp on the threshold of their houses if they felt they attained freedom. The village, inhabited by over 5,000 people, has an agrarian economy and almost all the people eke out a living depending on cultivation and allied occupations. Till recent past it had no proper road or transport facility not to speak of basic infrastructure like safe drinking water, pucca building for school, hospital and sanitation. Although some of these facilities have still not been in their reach they feel content.

A couple of old men who witnessed Nizam rule maintain, “We suffered from vatandari (patel and patwari) system,” he says. Muzeeb, another elderly resident says no official and politician used to come to the village. Now the situation is reversed, with improvement of transportation and civic amenities. However, middlemen and political brokers are the villains who garner a major share of fruits of development, deplores a middle aged man, Gangaram.

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