02/24/2006

Residents of Dhelapir are quick to highlight the positive features of their community: sanitation, water, recreation areas, and a family house with two rooms and a small kitchen. Every five to ten houses share a well and concrete latrine. The government offered residents training in kitchen vegetable gardening and raising poultry. Many of the gardens were flourishing, but no one has undertaken poultry work yet. There is a police station with 12 local police, some of whom spoke Urdu, the language of the Bihari. Children can attend a local school, but at least one parent complained it is too far away and want their own school. There is a mosque in the early phase of construction, and a hospital is reachable with local transportation. Challenges for the new residents include limited access to employment and the costs involved in traveling to a more urban area to find work. Residents want the government to encourage industry to come to the new community, which will require electricity.