As the people of Satpakhali, a model village adopted by Gauhati MP Bijoya Chakravarty under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, get ready to vote, unfulfilled promises weigh heavy on their minds.

With rickety timber bridges, unpaved roads filled with mud and slush and a health sub-centre without a doctor and medicines, Satpakhali is bereft of basic amenities even four years after it got the “model village” tag.

The village, about 40km from Guwahati, has a population of around 2,000 people and comes under Satpakhali Tejpur gaon panchayat in Rampur block of Kamrup district.

The Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first Independence Day speech from the Red Fort in 2014. The scheme envisioned providing the people of these villages with quality access to basic amenities and opportunities.

Chakravarty had adopted it as a model village in November 2014 but residents feel the tag is “a travesty of truth”.

A villager wades through slush. Pankaj Sarma

A man crosses a damaged bridge. Pankaj Sarma

“For the last four years, the scheme remained confined to the announcement only as we are yet to witness any real development. The assurance to make Satpakhali a model village has turned out to be a big zero,” said resident Bhairab Choudhury, pointing to a timber bridge, which is too weak for an ambulance to pass.

Echoing him, Deepjyoti Das, a student, said, “When our village was chosen as a model village, our hopes had soared. But nothing has changed so far. Now with elections round the corner, promises are again in abundance but we have become rather sceptical.”

“Our village lacks a proper playground and also does not have an auditorium, library or a club for recreational activities,” he rued.

“We have a voluntary organisation called Bandhutwa Sangha where the village youth gather and observe festivals. Since it is running from a rented accommodation, there is very little space. We wanted a permanent space for it but that, too, did not happen,” he added.

Jyotish Das, a 50-year-old tea stall owner, said the health sub-centre remained closed on most days of the week.

“Forget about the doctor, even the nurse visits only twice or thrice a week. Even basic medicines are unavailable due to which we have to go to the primary health centre at Rampur, over 5km away,” he said.

He said flood was another perennial problem but nothing has been done to provide them respite.

Three rivers — Kolohi, Jogolia and Batha — overflow during the rainy season and inundate Satpakhali and its adjoining areas.

Not only rickety bridges, most roads in the village are unpaved and filled with mud and slush.

“From the condition of the roads, one can easily imagine the level of development in our village,” said Basanta Mali, a pig farmer.

He said in the past four years, only two roads have been paved with concrete block and some electricity connections provided under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, which are routine work and also being done in villages elsewhere in the state.

“We have not got anything notable after our village got the model tag,” Mali said.

The BJP, however, has replaced Chakravarty with Queen Oja as its candidate for the Gauhati seat this election but only time will tell whether this can cut any ice with the voters of Satpakhali.

The locked health sub-centre. Pankaj Sarma

A signboard mentioning that Satpakhali is a ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram’. Pankaj Sarma