“The development of the village has been a myth,” said Sri Sivas Agarwal, 52, who has been associated with the RSS since the early 90s. “I have been part of the Babri Masjid demolition and every major occasion of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP since 1973. My entire family has voted for the BJP for decades. But when it comes to getting work done, how are they different from other parties?”
When Khattar adopted the village in 2015, he announced a slew of measures, with officials coming in to check progress for the next three to four years, but after that their zeal fizzled out, according to Agarwal.
While the public health centre and marketplace are functional, and some roads are in good condition, the overall state of Keorak is far from that of a ‘model village’.
“Some works were done till 2019 but after that nothing has happened. Everything is left half done. There are only naked structures in place. Where is the adarsh in this adarsh gram?” he asked.
A large village with a population of around 14,000 (per the 2011 Census), Keorak was adopted by then CM Khattar as part of the Haryana government’s Vidhayak Adarsh Gram Yojana (VAGY), a scheme under which MLAs develop select villages. While it’s modelled along the lines of the Narendra Modi government’s flagship Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for MPs, it differs in that there are separate state funds allocated for it.
Under VAGY, each constituency is granted Rs 2 crore annually for development work, which can be allocated across one or more villages. For villages with a population of up to 5,000, the funding is capped at Rs 50 lakh, while it’s Rs 1 crore for populations between 5,000 and 10,000, and Rs 2 crore for those exceeding 10,000.
In March 2023, Khattar expanded the scope of the Rs 2 crore grant to include urban areas as well, renaming the initiative to “Adarsh Nagar Evam Gram Yojana.” He was replaced as Chief Minister by Nayab Singh Saini in March 2024. Now, Khattar is gearing up for the upcoming elections as the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Karnal. The elections are scheduled for 25 May across all 10 seats of Haryana, with assembly polls to follow later in the year.
ThePrint tried to contact Khattar via phone and WhatsApp. This report will be updated if a response is received.
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‘Beautification’ project to health hazard
Entering Keorak is an immediate assault on the senses. Garbage mounds are everywhere, even turning the space in front of the public health centre and Kunti Ghat, along the central pond, into breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies.
Villagers complain of crumbling roads and shoddy repairs that barely last, causing bike tires to wear out and loose stones to fly up, sometimes hitting people in the face.
But one of the most pressing issues here is water contamination, which is directly linked to some of the ‘development’ and ‘beautification’ projects undertaken in the village. It’s even causing cattle to get sick.
Keorak’s sewage system includes 9-millimetre pipelines intended to serve its population, according to the sign outside the Sewage Treatment Plant. Commissioned last year, the plant was meant to cleanse wastewater and redirect it into the Keorak-Kaithal drain and then into the main drainage system of Kaithal for irrigation use.
However, in reality, the water from the plant flows into the Keorak-Kaithal drain—which is already contaminated with litter and raw sewage—and then into the Kunti Ghat pond, where buffaloes swim and drink.
“Our animals are falling sick due to the dirty water. They get sores in their mouth, feet, and abdomen” said resident Bindra (he goes by one name). “The walls of the pond are also almost breaking.”
A doctor at the veterinary centre in Keorak confirmed the villagers’ claims that the animals are falling ill due to the dirty water, although he also said that not vaccinating buffaloes for foot-and-mouth disease contributed to the problem. “They get sores in the abdomen and mouth. Other illnesses include digestion issues,” the vet said.
Revitalising the village’s waterbodies was among the key promises made by Khattar. In 2016, he announced Rs 3.5 crore to overhaul all four of Keorak’s ponds and establish the Sewage Treatment Plant.
“This is the Koteshwar tirth of the Kunti ghat. It used to be one body of water but there was a (rudimentary) divider. After Khattar adopted the village, a proper division was created and one part of the pond was kept for animals. The other side of the ghat was supposed to be beautified but this hasn’t happened. He has only announced projects, completed nothing here,” said resident Fauji Ilam Singh.
In 2020, Khattar claimed that 95 percent of the work on Keorak’s central pond was completed during a meeting on groundwater policy in Chandigarh.
Another pond in the village — Motiwala Kund — has no boundaries and is also full of litter.
“You can see the ‘vikas’ in front of you. There is filth everywhere. You can see this pond in front of your eyes. We are always scared that our children and animals will fall into this dirty water,” said resident Soniya Sherawat. “This isn’t a pond, this is a swamp.”
Ignored complaints, blame game
Attempts to bring the sewage issue and other problems to the attention of officials have largely gone unheard, according to Keorak sarpanch Jasbir Singh.
“There is so much I can do. I had handed a letter to the head office of the gram panch in Chandigarh about the sewage issue but nothing has been done,” he said. “The sewage pipelines are breaking due to extreme clogging as the water also contains animal faeces. As far as the litter on the roads is concerned, I have called JCBs for picking it up several times but the village needs a proper waste disposal system”.
When contacted by ThePrint, Kaithal sub-divisional magistrate Sushil Kumar despatched social education panchayat officer (SEPO) Anurag Dutt to assess the situation in Keorak.
There, Dutt met with sarpanch Singh and explained that the sewage issue falls under the purview of both the Irrigation Department and the Public Health Department, as the sewage treatment plant is managed jointly by them.
A blame game then unfolded between Public Health Department junior engineer Akashdeep, Singh, and Dutt regarding responsibility, with no resolution in sight.
Eventually, Dutt asked the sarpanch to write a new letter outlining these issues and to submit it to both the Irrigation and Public Health departments. Singh and Dutt also called up officials at the Irrigation Department, who informed them that work on the sewage issue could only commence after the elections due to the Model Code of Conduct being in effect.
ThePrint’s calls to Kaithal block development and panchayat officer Raj Singh went unanswered.
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A monument to broken promises
Beyond the ramshackle physical infrastructure, Keorak’s educational institutions also suffer from varying degrees of neglect.
The village is home to two government senior secondary schools and three government primary schools with adequate facilities. However, staff shortages are an issue. Both senior secondary schools currently operate without principals, with teachers taking additional charge. And the Model Sanskriti School, affiliated with the CBSE, has had 14 vacant positions for the past two years. To make matters worse, the school hasn’t had a chemistry teacher for classes 9-12 since last September.
Adding insult to injury is an unfinished and decaying building that should have been a veterinary university by now.
In 2015, Khattar had announced the setting up of a regional centre of the Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (Hisar), but to villagers it now stands as a monument to “unkept promises”.
The building is in such a poor state that villagers claim it won’t survive another monsoon season. The interiors are hollow and it has never seen doctors or staff. Even the road leading to this centre is rocky terrain for at least 5-6 kilometres.
While Keorak village has another functional veterinary centre with a specialised doctor and some staff members, it isn’t equipped with facilities for major surgeries and tests. Villagers whose buffaloes fall sick and need major surgeries continue to go to Uchana, around 55 kilometres from Kaithal.
“This veterinary institute’s construction has been going on for nine years. The walls have fallen down twice. Officials have stopped coming here for 1.5 years,” said resident Dharampal Lambardar, 50. He added that the road leading to the centre was built with poor-quality materials and so villagers had to take matters into their own hands and rebuild a 2-kilometre stretch.
“The funds to build the veterinary hospital have not been released from the state,” said a senior Haryana government officer, on condition of anonymity. “For one and half years, there has been no movement on this”.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)