JODHPUR: Two years after the Narendra Modi government announced the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), expected to 'electrify' many border villages and hamlets of Jaisalmer and Barmer districts in Rajasthan, hundreds of villages use lanterns and chimney lamps even now. In dozens of villages, though electricity has reached within the last mile, connections have not been given and lines not laid by authorities concerned, keeping them in darkness. Bahla gram panchayat, declared completely electrified seven years ago, is still waiting for power. The same is the case with Dhanana gram panchayat. The village, which received a power connection to operate a tubewell 10 years ago, was declared fully electrified. But houses in the village do not have electricity. While a large number of villages and hamlets started receiving power under the Centre's new programme, the situation is miserable in villages near the Indo-Pak border. Transformers have been installed in many villages and are even connected to the grid. But connections have not been given to houses. In many villages, poles have been put up, but lines have not been laid. In Jaisalmer district, Bahla village, situated 9km away from the international border with Pakistan, villagers are using chimney lamps for light 69 years after Independence. The affluent, meanwhile, are using solar energy to power lamps. Except for a few hamlets of the gram panchayat such as Badhekhan Ki Dhani and Kalro Ki Dhani, the rest of the panchayat has had no luck with their appeals to successive governments for electricity. Jamila, sarpanch of Bahla, said that students were using chimney or solar lamps to study. In summers, there's no respite from heat as villagers cannot use fans, coolers, etc. In case of broken farm equipment, they cannot do simple procedures such as welding. For any work that requires power, one has to go to Bharewala village, 25km from Bahla. Resolutions submitted by the gram panchayat to panchayat samiti, zila parishad and even electricity department officials have not produced any results. Similarly, people in dozens of villages and hamlets in Harnau gram panchayat, which comes under Shahgarh Bulj, are forced to live without power and do not receive government assistance. In these areas, there are schools, but no teachers. There is no government medical service, and for facilities people are dependent on BSF. To top it, most of the villagers are illiterate.