Chakla doesnt sleep at 6 anymore

 Bharat’s shining in Chakla
BIG TICKET POWER PLANT LIGHTS UP LATEHAR HAMLET WITH JOBS, FAST FOOD

TURNAROUND TIME: Once terrorised by Maoists, Chakla is now abuzz at night, a saloon and a grocery shop (right) doing business at night is testimony to that. Telegraph picture by ASRP Mukesh
A.S.R.P. MUKESH Chakla (Latehar), Dec. 11: Nanu Yadav, playing cards with cronies under a banyan tree, is photo-op straight out of a hamlet in Bharat. Only this Chandwa block hamlet, Chakla, 30km from Laterhar’s district headquarters, has already stepped in to the Great Indian Dream, thanks to a big ticket investment. “Chakla gaon chamak gaya (Chakla village is shining),” says the 65-year-old about the quantum effects of Abhijeet Group’s greenfield 1,740MW power plant — the state’s biggest yet — with a quantum of investment pegged at Rs 10,050 crore. “We have already pumped in Rs 1,400 crore,” said manager (communications) A.K. Sinha. Whether it is direct investment, cash inflow from fat cat land deals, direct or indirect employment or just corporate exposure, the signs of change are writ large on Chakla’s rugged surface. Mushrooming fast food joints, pucca houses, hair-cutting saloons, and most importantly, villagers roaming confidently late in the evening in what was once a rebel-hit zone are some of the most obvious ones. “No one dared to venture out after dusk. Today, people are out till 10pm. There’s electricity and roads, signboards. Chakla is linked to the world,” said villager Ranjit Kumar. The change — from thatched huts to double-storeyed houses with television and DTH connections — occurred in a mere 18 months. “Kuch din baad toh ye Ranchi jaisa dikhne lagega. (It will soon look like Ranchi),” laughed villager Ranjit Singh. From landscape to mindscape, change is all around. Elders like Yadav say youths involved in rebel activities have dropped guns to work in construction sites. “If you don’t get food, you pick up guns. That’s slowly changing now. No one likes bloodshed,” said Yadav. The Abhijeet group currently employs over 4,000 people, majority of whom are Chakla or Chandwa residents. “From construction labourers, watchmen, cooks to even contractors, people are recruited from the block,” said plant chief construction manager Rajiv Goyal. Labourers who earned Rs 20 now pocket Rs 220 a day, he added. “If earnings multiply 11 times, there’s a sea change. When I first came here in 2006 for site inspection, I was scared. Crime and violence were rife,” he added. The company has had its brush with rebel violence — Naxalites killed four guards last year — but the plant carried on with its work. “Our biggest strength have been residents, because we invested in their infrastructure. Apart from the rebel issue, the main problem was that of power and road connectivity. We solved them to a large extent,” Goyal said. Villagers are also becoming receptive to education and health schemes, which the government is undertaking with private partnerships. Latehar deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar Purohar agreed that more kids went to school now, as the district recently got a private school with the company’s help. Civil surgeon E. Tigga said health camps were a bigger draw now. “Private-public partnerships have caught on,” he said. For instance, at a recent family planning camp organised by the company, villagers got shawls and saris. “Incentives wooed people to come. They left after learning something worthwhile,” he added. But development comes at a price. Water crisis seems to be one, with bore wells running dry. But there’s no dearth of liquid of another kind, as cash-rich villagers have disposable incomes to buy liquor. Abhijeet Group communications manager A.K. Sinha said they were aware that Chakla’s changing face demanded greater community investments. “Under our corporate social responsibility model, we have separate programmes for women’s self-reliance, anti-liquor drives, empowerment against sexual harassment, etc. Our family planning camps have been remarkably successful with the minority community — a significant 45 per cent demographic — in partnership with the district administration,” he said. But village grocer Manjha Hansda sums it up best. “From one rice meal a day to muri aloo to chowmein now, Chakla is a fairytale.” http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101212/jsp/frontpage/story_13289666.jsp