People throng the Bornamghor in Chinatolly on Saturday. Telegraph picture
Golaghat, Jan. 3: Last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ambitious village development project, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, little did he know that the residents of greater Chinatolly village here were already working on turning their village into a model one.
Under the PM's scheme, each MP is supposed to take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019.
Chinatolly, 15km from the district headquarters, is inhabited by 721 families and comprises five villages - number 1 Senchowa, number 2 Senchowa, Habichowa, Akagaon and Nabheta Gaon.
In January 2013, residents of the village got together and decided to commemorate 200 years of Chinatolly Bornamghor (community prayer hall) by organising a two-year programme.
The villagers approached local ministers, MLAs and the district administration for support but were disappointed by their indifferent attitude.
Not losing hope, they collected funds from every family in the village and used the amount for educational, cultural and economic development of the village and to renovate the Bornamghar.
A celebration committee was formed with Rokheswar Saikia and Ananta Saikia as its president and secretary respectively.
A sum of over Rs 50 lakh was collected which has been used to undertake 38 development schemes in the village.
In the past two years, eight roads measuring 20km have been constructed, valuable trees have been planted across 4km and neem saplings have been distributed among the residents.
The committee organised three workshops on plucking and pest control in tea plantation as the economy of the village is based on tea, constructed five public toilets in the village, built a library and a study centre on the Bornamghor premise. It held career guidance programmes and spoken English classes for the students of the village.
'We have also organised special coaching classes for the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya entrance examination. Altogether 11 students have got admission in the last two years. This is just the beginning and with the residents' warm response we hope to turn our village into an ideal one for others to follow,' said Samiran Diganta, a local youth and a member of the committee.
The closing ceremony of the celebration began today with a three-day programme.
As the villagers had decided not to invite any political personality or bureaucrat to the two-year programme, only local villagers and non-political personalities attended the ceremony.