The powerloom town of Bhiwandi, known as the ‘Manchester of India’, has three MLAs in the fray for the October 13 assembly polls.
With Bhiwandi divided into three assembly constituencies — East, West and Rural — following the delimitation, the political scenario has changed drastically. Kalyan (West), Shahapur and Murbad are the other three assembly segments in the Bhiwandi parliamentary constituency.
Earlier, Bhiwandi had only one MLA seat. Its electorate mostly comprised people from Muslim and Padmashali communities, while in the rural areas, the majority of the voters belonged to Agri, Koli and other tribal communities.
But now, all that have changed. The Muslim population in urban Bhiwandi (East and West constituencies) is dominated by migrants from Uttar Padesh, Bihar and West Bengal — most of them working in the powerlooms. Also, there are Konkani and Maharashtrian Muslims in large numbers, who too are into the powerloom business.
Bhiwandi (Rural) constituency comprises areas falling out of the urban limits. Numerous villages and parts of Wada, which has many industries, also come under it. Majority of the voters belong either to Agri and Koli communities or are scheduled tribes.
Also, there are Muslim voters and migrants from other states. One of their long-standing demands has been the development of the Diva-Vasai railway, and of more trains passing through Bhiwandi. The Kalyan (West) electorate is dominated by the working-class Marathis. The voters of Shahapur and Murbad are mostly into agriculture.
Kalyan (West) has seen lots of development in the past decade, with a large number of housing and commercial complexes coming up in the area. People from Thane and Mumbai have shifted to Kalyan as properties are available there at affordable prices.
However, the daily eight-hour load-shedding is one big blemish on the area which has almost all other facilities. Apart from agriculture, Shahapur and Murbad both have industrial units, which have helped in their development and created employment opportunities for the residents.
But for the villages in these regions, development is still a distant dream. Electricity is still to reach every home in the villages, and there is no proper water supply network. Many villages still depend on wells and hand pumps for water.
There is one big shortcoming. There is no multi-facility government hospital in any of these six constituencies. In the event of an emergency, the patient will have to be rushed to a
hospital in Mumbai.
