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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | A shot at hope for village elders by Kumud Jenamani

A shot at hope for village elders by Kumud Jenamani

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published Published on Nov 28, 2010   modified Modified on Nov 28, 2010

Two elders of nearby villages, with experience of a panchayat election, were among those who cast their vote today for the state’s first-ever rural polls, united in their scepticism, but hopeful that the chosen ones would deliver on their one and only need: water.

Saiba Tuddu (62) of Debanki village of Potka block in East Singhbhum wants to elect a mukhiya who will pay attention to their problem, helping him erase a memory of the 1978 panchayat election in undivided Bihar when they elected a mukhiya who ended up spending most of his time at his in-laws’ house, paying little attention to the job at hand.

Gusto Behari Singh Sardar (65) of Gitilatah village 10km away is waiting for 30 years to repair a pump fixed by the mukhiya he too helped elect in 1978.

Both are wise enough to realise that nothing much may change after these panchayat polls, being held in Jharkhand after 32 years. But both did not allow that sentiment to overrule their sense of duty. Hence they voted.

Sardar cast his vote after waiting in queue for hours. His effort left him exhausted, though he maintains he is hopeful that whoever was elected mukhiya would work to resolve their water problem.

“I own 50 acres of cultivable land, but this year I failed to produce even a fistful of grain. Because, this time there was scanty rain. We grew paddy crops, but they dried up due to lack of water,” he says.

The solution? A check dam. “I am here to vote as I understand that the person who will be voted to power will solve the water problem,” Sardar explains.

This is his third time, having voted in the panchayat elections of 1978, 1973. “In those days, Dev Singh was elected mukhiya, but his problem was he would spend most of his time with his in-laws’, paying almost no attention to our problems.”

Times have changed, and Sardar hopes the new mukhiya will know better.

Tuddu’s agenda is far more specific. “During the last panchayat elections in 1978, we had persuaded the mukhiya to get a pump fixed at Gadru river for irrigation. But after two years, the pump was rendered ineffective as flood waters submerged the area,” he recalls.

Local MLAs and MPs and even a minister failed to get it fixed. “About 30 years have passed, the pump is still defunct,” Tuddu laments.

This time, his village has decided to vote en masse for a single candidate. They believe their new mukhiya would definitely succeed in fixing the pump once for all.

“The Gadru river is full, and the only thing we want is a functional pump so that the river water can irrigate our corn fields,” he said.


The Telegraph, 28 November, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101128/jsp/frontpage/story_13230742.jsp


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