By IANS
Patna : A little-known village in Bihar has found fame and is set for a facelift as it has been officially identified as the native place of former Mauritius prime minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam.
Harigaon in Bhojpur district, about 60 km from here, was like any other village in rural Bihar without roads, electricity connection and a health centre.
The Bihar government will now develop it as a model village with basic infrastructure and turn it into a historical place to attract tourists, particularly from Mauritius.
Ahead of Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam’s visit to the village Feb 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with top officials went to the village Saturday, and announced a spate of measures including construction of roads, a hospital, a school and other basic facilities.
“Nitish Kumar visited Harigaon to take stock of the amenities available in the village before the Mauritius prime minister’s visit,” a senior official of the Chief Minister’s Office said here Sunday.
Nitish Kumar has invited Navinchandra Ramgoolam to visit his ancestors’ village. Navinchandra Ramgoolam will also unveil a statue of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam in the heart of Patna.
Late Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was prime minister of Mauritius from 1961 to 1982. He is considered the father of the nation as he led his country to independence from Britain.
According to experts, his grandfather was one of the hundreds labourers from different villages across Bihar forcibly taken by the British to work in Malaysian sugarcane plantations in 1871.
A large number of people from Bihar travelled to various parts of the world, including Mauritius, in the 19th century to serve as indentured labourers – sometimes referred to as girmitiya – in sugarcane and rubber plantations.
Most of them were from districts like Bhojpur, Chapra, Gopalganj and East and West Champaran.
About 60 percent of the 1.2 million population of Mauritius is of Indian origin, a large number of them from Bihar with Bhojpuri as their mother tongue.