Pune, Jul 1 (PTI) Residents of Dare Tam, Eknath Shinde"s village in western Maharashtra"s Satara district, burst crackers and erected traditional "gudis" atop their houses to celebrate his appointment as the state"s new Chief Minister.They also expect that the village will now get better infrastructure, and its children won"t have to cross the river to attend school after std 6th.Celebrations began as soon as it was announced on Thursday evening that it was Shinde, whose rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership brought down the previous government, who would be the next CM.Gudi or the traditional flag is raised on the first day of the Marathi new year which falls in March-April. On Thursday, Gudis were erected in the village once again.Though Shinde is generally seen as a grassroots politician who rose from Thane near Mumbai, he hails from Dare Tam, located on the banks of the Koyna river, around 300 kilometres from the state capital.The 58-year-old leader completed his education in this remote village before shifting to Mumbai with his family. "The moment Shinde saheb"s name was announced as the next CM, people started celebrating. Sweets were distributed, gulal was smeared on each other"s faces, coconuts were offered to the village deity, aarti was performed and slogans were shouted in his support," said Ganesh Utekar, a local resident and Sena functionary. "We also installed gudis on top of our houses and made rangolis outside. We are very happy that our `Dada" has become CM," a woman said. After he rebelled along with several Sena MLAs, people in the village had prayed to the local deity and performed `abhishek" ritual to ensure that hurdles in his way were removed. The villagers hope that they would see quicker development now. There is a need for better roads and other infrastructure, one man said, while a woman said the children have to cross the river to attend high school after they pass Class VI. As urban development minister in the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet, Shinde had ensured that some developmental works were implemented in the village, said another resident. He expressed hope that the local school will be expanded to accommodate classes up to std 12th. PTI SPK COR BNM KRK KRK