ID :
54689
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 19:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/54689
The shortlink copeid
Jharkhand's tribal hamlets to boycott LS polls
Dumka/Dhanbad (Jharkhand) Apr 9 (PTI) Even as election
campaign has reached a crescendo in India's eastern state of
Jharkhand, residents of three tiny tribal villages at Dumka
and Dhanbad have decided to boycott the ballots.
Nestled among the hills, the Amlagarhi village in Dumka
district, where 20 Paharia tribal families live, are sore at
the distance they have to travel to the nearest booth that is
eight kms away.
Not only the distance, they have to cross three hills
to reach the booth.
"In the past elections too, many voters of Amalagarhi
could not vote due to the crippling distance and the hills,"
Paharia Syamlal Ahadi, a resident of the village, said.
The State Election Commission, however, defended the
decision to set up the booth away from the village, saying the
difficult hilly terrains prevented it from taking it closer.
"It depends on the geographical condition and the
topography," Jharkhand's Joint Chief Electoral Officer
Ashok Sinha said.
Voters in Pokharia in the same Dumka district, however,
are luckier with a booth nearby, but still are not willing to
exercise their franchise for an altogether different reason -
to protest against alleged indifference by politicians to
their plight.
"I survive by selling firewood, but the money that I earn
is hardly sufficient. The local politicians last time promised
me to allot a BPL card, but till now I have not got one,"
55-year-old Matasi Dasi of the village in Dumka's Sikripara
block, said.
Seventy-year-old Gyandra Dutta of Dumka has a similar
grievance against the politicians.
"I have been voting since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's time.
But development never reached our area because the politicians
never showed much interest in it," Dutta rued.
The same scenario prevails at Chalkari village in the
Topchachi block in the Dhanbad coal belt.
Forty-five-year-old Bada sukar birhor, the village head,
claims he has never seen a parliamentarian dropping in his
village after he became a voter.
"Our village has a population of 145 persons, and we
depend on lantern as there is no electricity in the village.
No politician ever visited our village," complained Birhor.
When contacted, Congress's Dhanbad MP Chandra Sekhar
Dubey said the village falls in the neighbouring Giridih Lok
Sabha constituency.
"Had the village been in my constituency, I would have
definitely gone there and addressed their needs," Dubey, who
is seeking re-election from Dhanbad, said.
The Birhors at Chalkari are facing hardship following
non-availability of medical facilities and drinking water,
according to one Phul Chand Birhor.
The village has a primary health centre, he said, but
doctors rarely visit the centre. PTI CORR
PMR
NNNN
campaign has reached a crescendo in India's eastern state of
Jharkhand, residents of three tiny tribal villages at Dumka
and Dhanbad have decided to boycott the ballots.
Nestled among the hills, the Amlagarhi village in Dumka
district, where 20 Paharia tribal families live, are sore at
the distance they have to travel to the nearest booth that is
eight kms away.
Not only the distance, they have to cross three hills
to reach the booth.
"In the past elections too, many voters of Amalagarhi
could not vote due to the crippling distance and the hills,"
Paharia Syamlal Ahadi, a resident of the village, said.
The State Election Commission, however, defended the
decision to set up the booth away from the village, saying the
difficult hilly terrains prevented it from taking it closer.
"It depends on the geographical condition and the
topography," Jharkhand's Joint Chief Electoral Officer
Ashok Sinha said.
Voters in Pokharia in the same Dumka district, however,
are luckier with a booth nearby, but still are not willing to
exercise their franchise for an altogether different reason -
to protest against alleged indifference by politicians to
their plight.
"I survive by selling firewood, but the money that I earn
is hardly sufficient. The local politicians last time promised
me to allot a BPL card, but till now I have not got one,"
55-year-old Matasi Dasi of the village in Dumka's Sikripara
block, said.
Seventy-year-old Gyandra Dutta of Dumka has a similar
grievance against the politicians.
"I have been voting since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's time.
But development never reached our area because the politicians
never showed much interest in it," Dutta rued.
The same scenario prevails at Chalkari village in the
Topchachi block in the Dhanbad coal belt.
Forty-five-year-old Bada sukar birhor, the village head,
claims he has never seen a parliamentarian dropping in his
village after he became a voter.
"Our village has a population of 145 persons, and we
depend on lantern as there is no electricity in the village.
No politician ever visited our village," complained Birhor.
When contacted, Congress's Dhanbad MP Chandra Sekhar
Dubey said the village falls in the neighbouring Giridih Lok
Sabha constituency.
"Had the village been in my constituency, I would have
definitely gone there and addressed their needs," Dubey, who
is seeking re-election from Dhanbad, said.
The Birhors at Chalkari are facing hardship following
non-availability of medical facilities and drinking water,
according to one Phul Chand Birhor.
The village has a primary health centre, he said, but
doctors rarely visit the centre. PTI CORR
PMR
NNNN
