No electricity, no marriage for men in UP village

Most of the men at Anmolpur village near here are unmarried "" no, not by choice or for any religious reason but due to the lack of power supply.

No one wants to marry off their daughters to youths from the village, about 20 km from the Uttar Pradesh capital, as it remains non-electrified even after 60 years of independence, villagers say.

"Marriage proposals do come but when parents of prospective brides come to know that there is no electricity in the village, they never return," says Atul Awasthi, a member of the block development committee.

Awasthi, who is a post-graduate and studying law, feels that he would have to remain a bachelor if he continues to reside in the village.

"No parents want to send their daughters as brides here as there is no electricity supply," says Dinesh Shukla, a farmer with around 20 bighas of land.

Over 75 per cent of the youths in Anmolpur are unmarried, according to residents.

Though the village, having a population of around 1,500, was selected as an 'Ambedkar village' in 1998-99 and included in integrated development project in 2004-05, there was no change in the fortunes of the "lonely" youths.

"An exercise to electrify the village was initiated in 1973 and electric poles were erected with power lines. But power supply was snapped after some years due to reasons unknown to us. There are only seven poles left now in the village," says Awasthi.

The villagers had to run from pillar to post, also meeting local MPs and MLAs, but all attempts were in vain.

In the past three decades, Uttar Pradesh have seen governments led by all major political parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, BJP and BSP, but no one cared for this village, which is just a stone's throw from Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, elderly Munni Devi, who had three unmarried sons, says.

The village has produced a number of engineers and government officers, who left it to settle in Lucknow, a villager said adding, if the government did not take the situation seriously, Anmolpur could witness a mass exodus in the days to come.

But some even do not have the option to leave.

Ghanshyam, 42, says his parents had received five marriage proposals for him but none could materialise.

"I have lost all hopes of getting married now. I cannot leave the village as my ancestral property and farmland are here," he says.