Ram Vilas Paswan's village still in lantern age

There is no electricity in 44 revenue villages of 21 panchayats in Alauli block, more than four and half decades after Paswan was elected as a legislator from the Alauli assembly seat, now part of the flood-prone Khagaria parliamentary seat.

"It is a curse to live without electricity. Politicians have hardly shown interest to provide basic infrastructure like electricity to us," says Shayamnandan Sada, who belongs to the Mushhar community, a Mahadalit, the poorest among Dalits.

Paswan's younger brother Pasupati Kumar Paras has represented Alauli in the state assembly for over two decades. He was defeated in 2010 assembly polls.

"Alauli did not see much of development during Paras's tenure as a legislator," said Sada, a school teacher.

It is not only Alauli, but people of nearly 50 of 129 panchayats in Khagaria are living without electricity.