Ritika
In Bharatul village of Cantt police station area, the same family has been the prime minister for a long time. Reetram was elected head here in 2005. Presently his wife is Pravesh Pradhan. The population of the village is around 7500, in which there are 4694 voters. According to Pradhan, there are about one thousand houses in the village, in which 1600 families live. Of these, about 400 houses belong to retired soldiers.
Talking about ex-servicemen families, there are more people from Uttarakhand here. Apart from these, people from Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Assam and Punjab etc. have settled here with their families.
All the festivals from Chhath Puja to Lohri and Onam etc. are celebrated with pomp in the village Bharataul. Diversity is also seen in marriage and other events. People keep complete information about their customs, food and cultural activities through close contact with neighbors.
Laxman Singh Khadayat of Banvasa Uttarakhand and Khim Singh Panchayat of Pithoragarh were found at home. Both live in Bharatol with their families. Told that he had decided to settle here only during the army job. Khim Singh Bharatul also helps the Pradhan in the activities of the Panchayat as the Secretary of the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Committee.
Pradeep Debnath of West Bengal is settled here since 1998. Bihar resident Satish Kumar told that his father had built a house here 22 years ago during his job. There is so much co-operation between the headman and the villagers that he never thinks of returning to his native home. Everyone respects each other.
Bharataul village is so clean and beautiful that it has received many awards at the state and national level. Reetram says that in 2007, as the head, he had received the Nirmal Gram Panchayat award at the national level from the then President APJ Abdul Kalam. This Gram Panchayat has also received the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Panchayat Promotion Award.
