Chhattisgarh polls: No road so no vote, say 2 Chhattisgarh villages

About 50 kilometres from Jagdalpur, on way to Jiramghati in Darbha block of south Bastar, infamous for the Maoist encounter that killed 27 Congress men in May, the twin Panchayats of Koleng and Chingur villages have decided to boycott the polls on November 11. 

The decision is not because of the boycott call given by the Maoists.

“It is a contentious decision of our two panchayats. No road, no electricity…no vote,” says Pandu Ram Nag, Sarpanch of Koleng viilage.

Having a combined strength of about 2,400 votes and located in the midst of Maoist hotbed where central paramilitary forces venture out only for specific anti-Maoist operations, the two villages have remained untouched of development benefits that Raman Singh’s government flaunts so often with pride.

Incidentally, Pandu Ram is a staunch BJP supporter and a BJP flag, having Atal Bihari Vaypayee’s photo, flies high atop his house. Known as a daring sarpanch, Pandu Ram commands a large number of votes, but shows no remorse for making a sizeable cut in the BJP’s vote share for Jagdalpur seat.

“Truth is truth, why should we hide it. We had told our MLA, Santosh Bafna, and even chief minister Raman Singh that if you do not give us road and electricity, we would boycott polls this year. They did not listen, let them face it,” says Pandu Ram, cursing failures of successive governments during 66 years of Independence.

Most houses in the two villages do not have electricity and villagers have to walk 12 to 20 kilometres on a muddy track snaking through Kangerghati jungle to fetch ration. There are no fixed line telephones, no mobile towers and in case of medical emergency, they have to ferry the patient 50 kilometres to Jagdalpur – half of it on foot or cycle and the rest on a tractor or a jeep. 

Villager after villager that dna spoke to in Koleng had no knowledge of either the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) or the health insurance through smart cards that the Chhattisgarh state government claims to have taken to the last of the villages.

The only fruit of central dole that has come to the villages is rice through the pubic distribution system (PDS) that indirectly transferred the benefit to Raman Singh popularising him as Chawal-wale Baba.

However, for the people living in remote villages like Koleng, the rice does not come cheap at Re 1 and 2 per kg. “To fetch 35 kgs of rice we have to travel 30 to 40 kilometres to Kawali or Netnar blocks and have to pay about Rs 150 for conveyance if we want to avoid back-breaking journey spread over two days,” says Laikhan of Dhurva tribe. 

Raman Singh’s government may be up for a surprise this time if Koleng like conditions prevail in several villages.