Chileans had a saying: ‘En Chile no pasa nada (In Chile, nothing happens)’. The same could earlier be said for Fazilka. Not any more.

A citizens’ group has taken matter in its own hands and with no tangible help from the state government, turned the town around. Considered one of the most backward areas of the state, the border town has taken giant leaps in the past one decade. A team of citizens — the Graduate Welfare Association of Fazilka (GWAF) — has taken a number of initiatives and set an example.

The group consists of a motley group of doctors, lawyers, educationists, businessmen and others who hail from the town. Some are working outside the town, but the desire to see development in Fazilka is the thread that binds them.

Last month, residents of Fazilka came together to celebrate Anand Utsav — a modern version of the traditional mela, with stalls of eatables and toys, cultural programmes, and rural games. The real motive behind the utsav was to raise awareness levels about environment. Women took out a jaago — a festive march taken out at night — singing songs to spread awareness about the need to plant trees. “About 300 saplings of trees like Kachnar, Gulmohar, Neem, Pipal and Jamun were given to the residents of middle and lower-middle class areas like Nai Abadi, Dhingra Colony and Teachers’ Colony,” said Navdeep Asija, secretary, GWAF.

GWAF deputed volunteers, who went house to house and helped residents plant the saplings. “We got the saplings planted by a daughter of the house. Female foeticide is a menace in Punjab, and through this move, our effort was to make people realise the importance of daughters,” said Laxman Dost, a former municipal councillor and one of members of GWAF. “Till now, 610 saplings have been planted in various areas of the city as part of the initiative,” he added.

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