



KUNAO, Uttarakhand: This year’s Diwali celebrations will be very special for the 125 families of Kunao village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district. They have electricity now, even if it has come 66 years after Independence.



The best part of the Kunao story is that the electricity victory was scripted entirely by its residents whose efforts have also included a hunger strike. It was only last month that the Uttarakhand government issued a notification removing the village from the Rajaji National Park.



The village, located on the border between the districts of Dehradun and Pauri, has now entered the modern age. Residents are busy getting their electricity connections and homes wired. Distribution of connections started last week, and about 50 households had taken a connection by Friday evening.



Beginning of a struggle



Most Kunao residents are engaged in animal rearing, and have used the area around their village as pasture for centuries. The British used to provide fee receipts of charan (grazing) and chugan (firewood collection) to Kunao villagers.



Locals also had to pay for setting up chappars (temporary dwellings). In 1983, the Rajaji National Park was created and Kunao came under the park area. And that’s when the struggle really began.



“I came to Kunao when I was a five-year-old kid. Now our fourth generation is living here and we had lost all hope after living without electricity for so many years. We are happy that our lives are now blessed with the coming of electricity. Electricity will prove a boon for the younger generation and it will help them establish cottage industry in the village,” 77-year-old Daulat Singh Aswal said.



With no electricity, the villagers had to depend on solar power to light their homes. Offering low power backup, solar lamps failed to meet the growing demand of the locals. Many villagers would recharge their cellphones in nearby Rishikesh, just 5 km away.



Hunger strike



Citing electric lights as a reason for disturbing wild animals, the forest department had not allowed the villagers this basic facility. On September 14, a crucial development took place in favour of local residents with the Uttarakhand government issuing a notification for removal of Kunao from the park area.



“We created pressure on the state government by launching a hunger strike in September last year. It was followed by a 38-day routine hunger strike by villagers in December. Besides, we also applied for our rights under the Forest Rights Act and became Uttarakhand’s first village to be covered under this Act. This helped us win this battle,” said Chandermohan Negi, the man who spearheaded the agitation.



Cricket fans and housewives are the happiest in Kunao.



“Now I can watch my favourite TV serials without bothering about the backup left,” a thrilled Santosh Devi excitedly said. Priyanshu, a 12- year- old who had shocked a local political leader during the last Assembly elections by asking when their village would get electricity, said: “ Now I can read and see cartoon films.” Describing it as a major win, social activist CP Lakhera said, “The Kunao villagers proved that you can win any battle if you are united. I was amazed by the unity of the villagers in their agitation. I salute them for their dedicated effort.”















































