BIHAR, INDIA, February 20, 2008: Mauritius PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam arrived on Tuesday at his ancestral village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district. Ramgoolam delivered a brief speech and expressed his gratitude to the waiting crowd, where he laid foundation stones of many development projects. On Monday, the Mauritius PM had announced US$250,000 for the development of roads and a hospital there.
“It is no less than a festival for villagers here. After all, a grandson of this village, who became the Mauritius prime minister, visited to pay respects to his roots,” said Santosh Singh, a villager in his late 20s.
Until a month ago, Harigaon was like any other village in rural Bihar – without roads, electricity and a health center. But it has been given a facelift following its identification as the ancestral village of former Mauritius prime minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the father of Navinchandra. Now, all the dusty lanes have been covered by concrete, solar lights installed, and the village pond beautified.
Mohit Ramgoolam, the Prime Minister’s grandfather, was one of the hundreds of laborers forcibly taken by the British from Bihar to work in Mauritius sugarcane plantations in the 1870s. About 60 per cent of the 1.2 million population of Mauritius is of Indian origin.