Masol (Rupnagar), July 21 :    Masol (Rupnagar), July 21:  Nestled in a trough surrounded by the Shivalik hills, this picturesque Punjab village with a 100 per cent Sikh population is bent on rewriting history. Government apathy and neglect have forced its inhabitants to write to Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala expressing their desire to sever ties with Punjab and join Haryana. While Punjab basks in all-round development, thanks to the green revolution, it is hard to believe the almost medieval conditions that prevail in Masol in Rupnagar district's Kharar subdivision. The village is not far from the chief minister's residence. Located 12 km from Punjab's centre of power, Masol has for years survived without roads, medical amenities, proper power supply and drinking water. To get to the village, this correspondent had to cross a seasonal rivulet, battling quicksand and rocks and even poisonous snakes when the vehicle got stuck in the mud. During monsoon, the village is completely cut off from the world. For the state government, Masol simply does not exist, rue villagers. 'We have appealed to Chautalaji that we want to become part of Haryana. All our supplies come from Haryana's Kiratpur, which is just 3 km away. Private doctors from Haryana visit us every alternate day, even during the rains. The Punjab government doctor comes once in 15-20 days. We don't want to remain in Punjab. The state has done nothing for us,' sarpanch Jagar Singh said. The letter to Chautala was delivered to his office on June 28. Written in Gurmukhi, it reads: 'We beg to state that we, residents of Masol village in Kharar subdivision of Rupnagar, have for the last 100 years not been able to enjoy the benefits of basic needs like water, power, medical facilities and roads. We are living like slaves even after Independence. Our village has electricity poles, but no power, a water pipe but no water. Even today, we use camels to transport water from Haryana... We appeal to you with folded hands to pull the village out of Punjab and make it a part of Haryana. All our needs are in any case being catered to by your village, Kiratpur.' For the residents of Masol, the struggle for survival begins at 4 am - with the women battling over the right to dig for water - and continues well past midnight. There is a pipeline, but it is almost non-functional. And on those rare occasions that it does work, the water is not safe for drinking. Villagers are, therefore, forced to dig the ground for water, which is dirty. Unable to cope with the hardships, many families have migrated to Haryana. Masol does not have a dispensary and the nearest hospital is 12 km away at Pinjore in Haryana. Villagers have to cross the seasonal rivulet to get to Pinjore. When it swells, they have to wait for hours - and sometimes for days - for the water to recede. Many have died waiting. To add to their woes, the nearest telephone connection is either in Charnia or in Nayagaon and the nearest motorable road is 10 km away. 'Building a road is not difficult. The government can build a road to Charnia in Haryana, which falls on the Nalagarh-Pinjore Highway. The government can also build a road from Nayagaon. The Charnia one would be easy to build. We have estimated Rs 6 lakh for a non-metalled road. The district administration has put the figure at Rs 30 lakh. A metalled road, the government says, will cost Rs 1 crore. We have no idea how they have arrived at the figure. We are ready to even donate land for a road, but the Punjab government is not bothered,' said Mukhtiar Singh, while tending to his camel. Punjab government officials visit the village twice or thrice a year. When elections come near, the visits double and promises are made. When the villagers boycotted the 1997 polls, the government announced that a water tank would be set up. The villagers were even willing to donate land for it. However, the tank is yet to see the light of day. The residents of Masol have no source of income apart from small land holdings - a maximum of four bighas per family. 'No one in the village is literate. Apart from a couple of people, no one else has been given a government job. We have been living in miserable conditions for the past several years,' the sarpanch said. Most villagers make ropes from grass or work as daily wage earners in Haryana. But the rope-making profession is dying out fast. 'We have no idea what our children will do when they grow up. That is why we want to join Haryana,' a villager said. Children have to travel to Charnia to attend school. Though there is a primary school in the village, residents prefer to send their children to Haryana as after passing the primary level, they anyway have to go to Nayagaon for higher education, which is 10 km away. Masol could even have been turned into a tourist spot, if the Punjab government had made some effort. The road from Nayagaon to Masol is breathtaking with rock cliffs on both sides of the rivulet as it meanders into the village and beyond.