Like UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Saifai in Etawah district, Mirzapur Kalan in Unnao district too is a model village. But, while the former gets constant ‘personal’ attention from the CM, with no dearth of funds for any development work, Mirzapur Kalan has been elevated to this status by the efforts of its residents, especially the women.

Selected for the Nirmal Gram Award 2007, this village of around 2,000 people boasts of modern toilets, two government schools, an anganwari, 30 deep handpumps and an underground drainage system. The village, which has 301 families, including 177 BPL families, has a literacy rate of 65 per cent.

Village pradhan Kusma Singh will receive the Nirmal Gram Award from President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on May 4. The award is in many ways apt, for it was after she took over as pradhan about a year back that the development works gathered pace and momentum.

Kusma says ensuring proper water and sanitation in the village has always been her priority.

Kusma, however, concedes that she was inspired by a visit to nearby Dosti village, which had earlier won the President’s award for its sanitation drive.