BALUWA (West Champaran), Sept. 30 -- A commercial establishment owned by former West Champaran district board chairman Amar Yadav - son of dreaded dacoit Bhangar Yadav, whose name was once synonymous with terror across the ravines of West Champaran - has found a new purpose. A portion of the building has been transformed into a library by a private teacher, with the family's active cooperation, as part of an endeavour to spread education in a remote part of the district. HT visited villages in Malahi Baluwa, Tadhwa Nandpur and Motipur panchayats in Bairiya block of West Champaran and found four libraries within a four-kilometre radius of Baluwa village, teeming with young people. One of them is tucked away in a building owned by Amar himself in Baluwa village in West Champaran district headquarters. "It has been a great support from the Yadav family, and they are doing everything they can to take education to the grassroots," said Manoj Kumar Pintu, a private teacher who runs the library. Amar, a former chairman of the West Champaran zila parishad and husband of incumbent deputy chairperson Renu Devi, reeling off a list of libraries his family has helped open in government schools, said efforts are underway to open a degree college in the area for students from rural backgrounds. "Our family wants the students to excel in their future and find a place in the society as responsible citizens," he said, who is also a B.Com graduate from Gorakhpur University. Located at a distance of about 15kms from Bettiah, headquarters of West Champaran district of Bihar, Baluwa Chowk remains a grim reminder of a dark era when the ravines of the floodplain were ruled by guns and gangsters. At the chowk stand statues of former MLA Satan Yadav and his two notorious brothers, Lakshan Yadav and Bhangar Yadav in a room with iron grill, whose names became synonymous with terror across the region during the 1980s and 1990s. Asked locals about these figures, they either prefer to evade the questions or accord them a demi-god status, using words such as "Babuwaji" - the honorific used for Bhangar Yadav - in their conversation. A little bit of coaxing and some villagers recall the fear that once stalked the area. "The area was infested with dacoits and their henchmen. We preferred to stay indoors at night. Our family members' anxiety would spike if we were delayed while returning home. The situation was quite grim. There was no security for our lives," said Joginder Prasad Kushwaha, as other villagers in Baluwa nodded with every sign of approval. However, barely a stone's throw away from these statues, Maargdarshan Digital Library, housed in a building owned by Amar Yadav, son of notorious dacoit Bhangar Yadav, presents a picture of a quiet social transformation at Baluwa village. Equipped with air conditioning, an RO water purifier, individual cabin lights, retiring and dining space with the capacity to accommodate 80-odd students, the library appears to serve as an oasis of peace and tranquillity in an area once marred by violence and fear. The library has also been offering competitive magazines, books for the examinations of railway, BPSC, SSC and Agniveer. A 29-year-old Kanak Lata, a resident of Baluwa, is immersed in preparations for the preliminary examination of the 72nd Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination after graduating from a college in Bettiah. "I have stacked all my energy into this attempt and looking forward to the preliminary examination," Lata said. Like her, Pinki Kumari and Vijendra Neha, both residents of Baluwa and preparing for the Bihar Board examination in 2027, and Naziya Parween, a resident of Sirisiya Mathiya village who is preparing for the SSC examination, are regular visitors to the library. For them, the library means concentration sine quo non for serious study. Tabrez Almam, Rohan Kumar, Satish Kumar, Ritesh Kumar and Vikash Kumar are among those sweating it out for the SSC, sub-inspector or Agniveer examinations, underscoring a striking shift in the aspirations of a generation born and brought up in the shadow of the region's violent past. The new generation isn't unaware of the region's chequered history either. "Thoda bahut sune hai bujurgo se (Heard little from the old timers)," - is the refrain here. Let the bygone be the bygone - come their riposte. With guns falling silent and gory crimes - loot, murder, dacoity, extortion, abduction and land-grabbing by the "jungle parties," as the armed gangs were once called - now largely a thing of the past, the long stretch of diara (ravine) land that once bred fear and sheltered outlaws is witnessing a transformation. From fear and desperation to hope and aspiration; from tales of gun power and dacoit legend to books, competitive exams and dreams of a government job - the ravine belt today points to a quiet social shift, with a handful of local aspirants already succeeding in the BPSC teacher and Agniveer examination. "There are some 20-odd successful students in examination for Agniveer and BPSC teachers from the area in past few years," said Prince Kumar, a staff of the library. Deep down, villagers, whose mainstay of livelihood here is agriculture, have a sigh of relief at the transformation that has taken place over the past two decades. "Our parivar (family), vyapar (business) and vyavhar (social relations) were in danger then. It's a great relief...," said 55-year-old Dharmnath Kushawa, a resident of Baijuwa village, accounting for the chequered history. The spirit of gun power, coupled with the lure of easy money, adventure and anger over usurpation of land and hard earned money once threatened to draw young minds into the ambit of crime either as followers or as adversaries and their violent pursuits, locals said. For many, the most plausible way to leave the area and settle in Bettiah and elsewhere, hoping to shield the next generation from a life of crime and hardship. "Our hard-earned money would go to the jungle parties as levy," said Bir Bali Sah, another villager, recalling those extortion notes embossed with Bihar Sarkar, Jungle Party. The reason for the region's violent past is not difficult to understand. Earning the epithet "mini-Chambal" for its chequered history with area remaining the den of more than two dozen dacoit gangs through the 1980s and 1990s. Those gangs included the ones led by Radha Yadav, Nema Yadav, Kishore Noniya, Rudal Yadav, Ram Jatan Noniya, Vyas, Rab Miyan, Pathar Singh Chouhan, Allauddin Miyan, Chuman Yadav, Lakshan Yadav, Bansi Yadav, Laloo Yadav, Prithvi Yadav, Lakshan Choudhary, Doma, Hari Yadav and Bhangar Yadav. They operated out of the diara areas of Nautan, Bairiya, Madhubani, Dhanaha, Bagaha-1 and Bagaha-2 blocks in West Champaran. The Gandak river, forest cover around the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), the region's proximity to Uttar Pradesh, and its difficult terrain together provided the dacoits with safe corridors and secure hideouts. While Rudal Yadav, Ram Jatan Noniya, Vyas, Rab Miyan, Pathar Singh Chouhan and Allauddin Miyan were eliminated in the late 1980s during Operation Black Panther, the operation against the "jungle parties" lost momentum through the 1990s, paving the way for Bhangar Yadav and other gangs to allegedly unleash a reign of terror and run a parallel system of authority across Champaran. Yadav eventually surrendered, along with his associates Sokha Yadav and Lakhi Bin, on May 5, 2008. That was the 1980s and 1990s. Mere a visit to the length and breadth of the diara area presents a plethora of contrast. HT witnessed the poor condition of the roads all the way from Sant Ghat (on the outskirts of Bettiah) to the villages in the remote villages diara belt filled with rainwater. However, there is the other side of the story as well. Several pucca houses have come up in the area, electricity has reached villages, villagers are in possession of their own tractors, motorcycles and four-wheelers, besides thriving commercial establishments have in the region. Villagers in Tadhwa, Nandpur, Motipur, Sirisiya, Sirisiya Gadiyani, Baluwa and Rampurwa alleged that the area continues to suffer from official neglect. "Schools, government hospitals and roads are known only on paper. Yes, the buildings you see here have come up through our hard work and our own efforts. Look at the condition of the road. It is filled with potholes and craters, but there is nobody in the corridors of power or administration to address our plight," said Chunnu Sah, a resident of Baluwa village, as other villagers nodded in agreement. When contacted, Bairiya block development officer (BDO) Puja Kumari acknowledged that the road stretching from Sant Ghat to Pakhnaha, maintained by the Rural Works Department (RWD), is in a deplorable condition. "We are looking to send a report about the condition of road to the district administration. Besides, the education department has identified 17 educational institutions that require construction and maintenance works. These works will be taken up under VB-G RAM G, Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti. The health department has also submitted a list of six health-related infrastructure projects requiring renovation. Appropriate action will be taken after their physical verification," the BDO said....