Faizabad, December 14 Facilities that couldn’t be achieved by years of compliants came to an Uttar Pradesh village thanks to the news that a high-powered bureaucrat was planning a ‘‘surprise visit’’.

In the past ten days, the roads of Karafarpur village in Sohawal tehsil, hav been repaired. Its poorer residents have been geting subdised foodgrain, it’s senior citizens old age pensions and schoolchildren, new uniforms, mid-day meals and scholarships.

As one of its 1,514 inhabitants explained — the visit of burra sahib is a big event.

So it wasn’t a surprise that the burra sahib in question, Navin Chand Vajpayee, Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) and the state’s number two bureaucrat, found everything in perfect order.

Vajpayee’s visit was in response to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh’s recent order to bureaucrats to visit over 70 districts of the state and spend the night on December 13 and 14. They were to interact with the villagers and get a first-hand information of the progress of the development schemes and on the spot redressal of grievances.

Ram Adhar Yadav, a farmer in Karafarpur, said: ‘‘The local tehsil staff have been ensuring the distribution of all the items because they know that the burra sahab will visit this village. If you go to another village, you will not find anything close to this.’’

The visit itself turned out a picnic, with Vajpayee landing on Tuesday evening with a dozen officers in tow. The same evening, he held a public panchayat to verify the implementation of government schemes.

But instead of in-camera proceedings with villagers, it was held in the presence of a battery of government officials — from Divisional Commissioner to the village Lekhpal. And naturally, he found everything in order.

In the morning, he attended the tehsil day. But again, the visit was a mere formality, with the APC staying on for about ten minutes.

Asked why a surprise visit — which was what the CM had ordered — had been done with the knowledge of the local administration, the APC said: ‘‘Is gaon ko adarsh gaon ke taur pe chuna gaya, is liye mein yahan aya hoon (this village was chosen as an ideal, so I’m visiting it)’’.