Northeast gets its first 'smart village' along Indo-Bhutan border, thanks to 'Skilled Indians'

Smart cities may be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest mantra but a remote nondescript, insurgency-ravaged village in Assam along Indo- Bhutan border has earned the distinction of being northeast's first smart village, thanks to the skill development here.

Barsimaluguri, about 11 km from the Indo-Bhutan border, in Baksa district has been turned into a model smart village with hundred per cent toilets, solar power and pure drinking water, following an initiative taken by a few individuals under the aegis of Nanda Talukdar Foundation (NTF).

The question is how?

"There are more than 20,000 villages in Assam with numerous government schemes being implemented but none has been transformed into a smart village. We decided to concentrate on one village and turn it into a model village, independent of government schemes," NTF Secretary Mrinal Talukdar told PTI.

The idea of turning a village into a smart one germinated in 2014 when "I along with a consultant friend, both spurred by the zeal to do something positive in rural Assam, dared to dream to turn a village ravaged by NDFB insurgents into a model village," he says.

"We have worked along four main verticals -- alternative energy, drinking water, sanitation and skill development and also initiated several other intervention works ranging from development of educational facilities, playgrounds, health and legal camps along with the establishment of a yarn bank," he says.

Talukdar and his consultant friend Aniruddh Goswami had the Detailed Project Report (DPR) ready by 2014 but the task of finding a sponsor was not easy with many organisations approached being sceptical of the project.

"Some were not sure whether we could successfully implement the project while many others rued why just one village? We were, however, not disheartened and our struggle to find a sponsor continued. Finally, the India Infrastructure Finance Corporation Limited (IIFCL) stepped in to finance our dream project," he adds.

The work to turn Barsimaluguri, a hamlet of 234 households of farmers, small traders and daily wage earners, into a smart village began on January 15, 2015 and the first step in this direction was to set up a model village working committee led by villagers Dinesh Bhuyan and Dipu Choudhury.

The first work initiated by the committee was setting up the water purification plant and now this village is perhaps the only one in the region to have a reverse osmosis plant.

(Image credits: BCCL)