In this village of Uttar Pradesh, 4 bells of grinding grain running on water for 15 years

Muzaffarnagar, 14 September, 2021, Tuesday

The people of Nirgaj village in Thana Bhopa area of ​​Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh have a 15-year-old grain grinding bell. The peculiarity of this bell is that it does not require any electric power to operate. Water falling on the turbine causes the wheel to spin and the bell to start ringing. This unique heritage mill was built by the British in 190 and is still in operation today. Usually machine-operated bell flour is very hot. Heating the flour burns invaluable nutrients, but checking the grain in the bell after grinding the flour makes it feel cold.

Since the mill has been prepared near the flowing canal of water, it is convenient to operate the mill. Even though it has been decades, these millstones do not wear out because they are naturally formed. In modern times bell stones are made synthetically which keeps on eroding. Which harms the use of flour. This water-powered mill is called a panchakki. The villagers have retained this heritage even after decades. People from the surrounding area also come to see this unique mill out of curiosity.

The locals believe that the grain flour ground in this mill does not spoil for a long time. The grain is weighed on the grinding mill (bell) before grinding but no weighbridge is kept here. The price of grinding grain has also been kept at Rs 50 per quintal, the revenue of which goes to the Irrigation Department. The mill is monopolized every year. The village panchayat also gets its share from the monopoly. One and a half mounds of grain is ground in an hour. People from 10 nearby villages come to grind grain in a total of 6 mills.