Sitab Diara (Bihar), Oct 10 (PTI) With Bihar set to celebrate the 120th birth anniversary of revolutionary leader Jayaprakash Narayan, his birthplace Sitab Diara, the otherwise nondescript village in Saran district, is all abuzz with activities as high-profile leaders make a beeline to mark the occasion with programmes and announcements.

Preparations are afoot for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the hamlet, along the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border, on Tuesday, during which he is scheduled to unveil a life-size statue of JP.

Also Read | Gaming Platform WinZO Reaches 100 Million Users.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will accompany Shah to Sitab Diara.

A handful of elderly people at the village, fondly recalled their association with JP, as Narayan was popularly known, and hoped that the current spotlight on Sitab Diara will also usher in some development initiatives.

Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: NIA Raids at Multiple Places Linked to Jamaat-E-Islami in Terror Funding Case.

Sudarshan Ram (84), a retired teacher and resident of Sitab Diara, said he remembers seeing JP and some of his friends playing in the muddy lanes of the village in the early 1900s.

Ram, referred to as 'Master Saheb' by locals, also lamented that JP's birth anniversaries come and go, but the village, although visited by politicians on the occasion, "barely finds a place on the government's list of priorities".

"We are hopeful that visits of high-profile politicians to this remote village this time will change its face to some extent," said Ram.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had last week visited Sitab Diara, situated at the confluence of Ganga and Ghaghra rivers, and inspected the development work being undertaken at the village, which faces the problem of flood and erosion every year.

Shri Bhagwan Mallah (74), another resident of the village, remembered sharing boat rides with JP.

"Boys of Lala Tola (as the village is also known) would often spend hours taking boat rides, playing on the boats back then. Not much has changed in this village as boys do the same even now during the rainy season. JP was senior to me, but he was friendly to all," Mallah added.

Octogenarian Ram Jatan Rai rued that the village, despite being the Loknayak's birthplace, has "suffered neglect" for long.

"We feel privileged to have belonged to the same village as JP, but people here still suffer due to lack of basic facilities like connectivity. Thankfully, work to build an approach road from National Highway-31 to Sitab Diara was taken up a few months ago," Rai added.

Meanwhile, a cultural event planned to mark the 120th birth anniversary of JP at the village has been cancelled in the wake of former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav's demise.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)