Five years after Model Village declaration, Mazirgaon still awaits drinking water facilities

A CORRESPONDENT

PALASBARI: Despite being officially declared a Model Village under the Assam Adarsha Gaon Yojana in the Azara revenue circle, residents of Mazirgaon continue to grapple with a severe shortage of clean drinking water, a basic necessity still out of reach for many villagers.

Residents of Mazirgaon model village under the Mazirgaon gaon panchayat allege that the government’s ‘model village’ tag exists only on paper. Even after five years of the announcement, the promises of holistic development remain unfulfilled, with the supply of potable water emerging as the most pressing issue.

It may be recalled that under the Assam Adarsha Gaon Yojana, the state government had decided to select two villages from each legislative constituency for comprehensive development.

On November 4, 2020, West Guwahati MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita declared Mazirgaon as a model village during a public meeting at the Mazirgaon gaon panchayat. At the time, the MLA had appealed to residents to cooperate in effectively utilizing the Rs 6-crore government grant to make Mazirgaon a true model for the state and beyond.

However, nearly five years later, villagers still await even basic amenities. Sources said that although a Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department scheme, Mazirgaon Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), existed to supply drinking water, large parts of the village, including Thakuriapara, Rajapara, and Gosaipara, remained deprived of it.

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