The bloodshed that followed consumed the lives of thousands of innocent, unarmed and hapless civilians. Similarly, misled by religious zealots, a large number of Punjabi youth also got killed either in police encounters or in their own group rivalries. The end result was that not only precious lives were lost but Punjab, which had the highest per capita income in the country, slipped into bankruptcy. Development work came to a virtual stop.

The NRIs from Punjab were thus both emotionally charred as well as hopelessly frustrated with the corrupt bureaucracy and lacklustre politicians of the state. Seeing the deplorable living conditions in their pinds and towns, they wanted to contribute their mite towards the development process but were defeated by the ways of the state and its system.

But Dr Raghbir Singh Bassi and Dr Gurdev Singh Gill of Canada decided to take things in their own hands. Both of them were sitting in their ancestral village Kharaudi, near Mahilpur in district Hoshiarpur, on one of their trips home when they decided to make Kharaudi and the villagers free of filth, diseases and ignorance of all kind.

It was no momentary emotional thought. Rather a firm resolve. Both had commitment and conviction. Back in Canada, they approached NRIs who hailed from Kharaudi and told them their plan to change the total life-style of the village. Kharudians rose to the call of their motherland in an unprecedented manner. Within no time, Rs 50 lakh was collected and out of it nearly Rs 20 lakh was donated by the families of Dr Bassi and Dr Gill. Thus was born the Village-life Improvement Board (VLIB). While, Dr R. S. Bassi was chosen as the chairperson of the board, Dr Gill and Dr Sukhdev Singh Bassi were elected as president and treasurer, respectively.

Dr Bassi is a Harvard graduate in Finance and Business Administration. He had risen to the position of Vice-Chancellor of Alaska Pacific University. Dr Gill, on the other hand, had left India in 1949 after completing his high school. He studied medicine in Canada and became the first doctor of Indian origin to start a private practice. But he soon got involved in community work in Vancouver for which he was awarded the ‘Order of British Columbia.’ Even his university honoured him with the honorary degree of Doctor of Science for selfless service.

Both returned to Punjab with Rs 50 lakh in their kitty and approached the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. They put before him their meticulously perceived project to turn Kharaudi into a model village. "Badal responded to our idea very enthusiastically and stated that his government would match the collection. On his instructions, we met the then Deputy Commissioner of Hoshiarpur, Iqbal Singh Sidhu. He too turned out to be extremely promising and inspiring. But once we got down to the implementation and interaction with the lower rank bureaucracy, like the BDOs, SDOs, engineers etc., we soon discovered that the rampant corruption at their level could shatter our dreams. The estimates they prepared were far beyond our liberal costing. For instance, for replacing broken PVC pipes of water supply, these officials gave an estimate of Rs 8 lakh. We found it to be too high and went ahead with our own effort. We completed the work at a cost of Rs 1.50 lakh. Similarly, for laying of the sewerage line in the village they gave us an estimate of Rs 22 lakh. We again found it to be exaggerated and went ahead with our own costing and succeeded in completing not only the sewerage line but also the connections to 200 houses in mere Rs 11 lakh."

Dr Raghbir Singh Bassi’s younger brother, Dr Sukhdev Singh Bassi, became equally involved in the project. Sukhdev Singh had left Kharaudi 45 years ago after completing his F.Sc. non-medical. In Canada, he did his engineering in electronics from the University of Alberta, Edminton. He later pursued consultancy engineering and taught for 33 years in a polytechnic. He rose to the position of Head of the Electronics Engineering Department of the same polytechnic in Saskatchewan, a province in Moosegaw. Dr S. S. Bassi had also worked for three years with the United Nations on a posting in Malaysia.

Dr Gill and Dr S. S. Bassi began working on the project titled "Nurture your roots" in September 1999 and within three years the village has got transformed astonishingly. Today, it has concrete streets connecting each house. The sewerage line flows through the village with a concrete cover on it. Each house has an outlet into it. Unlike most of our state government’s half-baked ideas of engineering, the sewerage water has not been allowed to pollute at its final disposal point.

The project includes the "Sewerage Water Treatment Plant" (SWTP), which will enable the VLIB to reuse this water for fishery and irrigation of fields. The income generated will be given to the panchayat and the maintenance committee.

The very idea of the SWTP not only lasts for ages but also is relatively far cheaper in cost. The technology too is simple. The entire sewage of the village is made to flow into a large covered septic tank outside the village. In this tank, anaerobic bacteria are produced on their own and thrive on the chemicals in the sewerage. This bacterium does not need oxygen but feeds only solids. It thus cleans the water up to 85 per cent. From this tank, the water is made to flow into a smaller tank, which is laid with perforated pipes covered with nylon filters and three feet of rubble. It is further covered with three inches of sand and three inches of mud. Thus when the water is filtered from this entire process it is as clear as tap water. This water is made to flow into an eight-foot-deep pond, where a fishery project is proposed. The excess water is used for irrigation. In Kharaudi, the VLIB has already completed the entire process. It has also introduced solar streetlights, which light up the entire village like any other urban city. The VLIB has also opened a primary school up to Class V, which runs like any other private public school enabling children to have access to uniform and equal education. The board proposes to upgrade it up to Class VIII.

Interestingly, the VLIB is not a formation of NRIs alone. As Dr Gill and Dr S. S. Bassi put it, "The lower rank bureaucracy wanted us to open a joint bank account with them by putting in our share of Rs 50 lakh. But once we realised that corruption was rampant, we decided against it. That’s when we formed the VLIB. We wanted the villagers of Kharaudi to be emotionally and practically as involved in the project as we were. So many activists from the village were made an integral part of the board. Now it is a joint effort. We come every winter, as summers are unbearable. We personally work on the sites but once we leave, the local members of the board complete the specific assignments given to them and there is a monitoring of each work in our absence. That is how we have been able to achieve our targets in record time."

The VLIB has cleared the entire shamlat land of wild growth. On this available patch of land, it has built a beautiful park and in the middle of it, the statute of village martyr Arjan Singh ‘Sach’, who was jailed for 12 years during India’s struggle for freedom, has been erected. He was a comrade of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

This park has been named Sach di Kharaudi. For the park project, Arjan Singh’s son and daughter also donated money. Once the park was ready, Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s younger brother, Kultar Singh, was invited to inaugurate it. While the villagers are very proud of this park, the younger generation has someone to look up to as a hero. While all this work was on in Kharaudi, the state government machinery, as usual, dilly-dallied about releasing the matching grants as had been promised. Even when the bulk of the work is near completion, the government has released only Rs 22 lakh so far. When the Primer of British Columbia, Ujjal Dosanj, was visiting Punjab, he went specially to Kharuadi, as he was aware of Dr Gill and Dr Bassi’s involvement in it. After he and Badal saw the amazing work on the ground, the Chief Minister promptly announced Rs 10 lakh as grant. Fortunately, this cheque was handed over to the board the very next day.

Meanwhile, a "Pillar of Appreciation" is also under construction in the middle of the village. This pillar will carry the names of donors of Kharaudi, who have given more than Rs 1 lakh each or more. At present, all such names are written on the wall of a gurdwara. The VLIB has also ensured that all telephone lines are under the ground. Today, almost every house in the village has a phone.

The indefatigable Dr Gill says, "Our idea is not to stop at our village alone. We wish to spread it to more villages and then to the whole of Punjab. We are planning to adopt seven more villages around Kharaudi."

Individual NRIs have done remarkable work for the welfare of these surrounding villages. For instance, Pammi Bains, in his village, Bharata Ganeshpur, has constructed a modern mortuary, which can house six bodies. "His mother had died but her body could not be preserved as there was no mortuary here. That is why, unfortunately, he could not be present at his mother’s cremation. It was his personal tragedy that made him build this mortuary, which is now available to anyone free of cost. But we would like a collective effort to optimise the improvement in village lifestyle."

Dr Gill’s efforts have already borne fruit. The Canadian International Development Agency, which is spending $30 million in the Indian subcontinent alone, has not spent a penny in Punjab. Dr Gill approached Herb Dhaliwal, the Minister for Fisheries in Canada, and once the latter learnt about the Kharaudi project and its proposed idea of a fishery, he agreed to involve 10 more villages in similar projects.