Water, livelihood issues hold key to polls in arid Bankura

Bankura: The day he reached Bankura town to start campaigning, Subrata Mukherjee called up a few party workers to ask about the project on the Damodar river that supplies water to the arid district. During his days in the Public Health Engineering department, a multi-crore World Bank- and ADB-funded project was conceived to supply water to villages in the district.Mukherjee is no longer a minister in the department, but he knew that the project will pay him rich dividends with time.
Water crisis in this arid region goes back more than a century. The first document that notes the government’s effort to lift water from Gadheswari river using “horizontal duplex pump” dates back to 1915. Later, water was lifted from Darakeswar river too. That was not sufficient for nearly 36 lakh people in the district. While there was a plan during the Left Front regime, Mukherjee accelerated it and used water from Damodar this time.
“There are 13 projects that can be identified with me. And I am asking people to judge me on my performance,” Mukherjee said, briefly halting for a glass of water. The 73-year-old Trinamool Congress leader has been campaigning for the past one month braving the scorching sun. He had fallen sick, but that has not deterred Mukherjee. “He would get into his black jeep (Mukherjee prefers to use a black car during campaigning) every morning and head for the villages,” said a party worker as he took part in a roadshow.
Gandhi Bichar Parishad, an NGO, has been working in villages in the belt where migration of labour had been high even two decades back. “Migration has come down significantly after central and state-sponsored schemes were implemented,” said Kalyan Roy, secretary of the organisation.
Around 18 km off Bankura town, Dinar is a village where migration has stopped, but the villagers struggle each day to earn even a meagre living. “We do not have options for a livelihood. Work offered under NREGA cannot sustain us throughout the year,” said Chiranjit Murmu. After graduating from Ramananda College in Bishnupur, he has started doing odd jobs in the village.
On a mud-layered wall of a house in the middle of Dinar, freshly painted “Jora Ful” (symbol of TMC) stood stark in contrast. “Nowa Chinre Vote Empe (Vote for this symbol),” Murmu translated as he left to bring the cattle grazing in a nearby field.
Back in Bankura town, both BJP and CPM candidates have been busy giving final touches to preparations for poll day. In the last Lok Sabha poll, BJP increased its vote share by around 16 per cent, mainly at the expense of 9-time CPM MP Basudeb Acharia. “Hindu Mahasabha’s existence in Bankura dates back to 1925-26. Over the years, BJP’s support base among the people have increased,” said Subhas Sarkar. “Moon Moon Sen’s complete absence in the constituency has added to the people’s dissatisfaction,” he said.
Bright white hammer and sickle painted on a vibrant red cloth were lined along the highway — the road that joins Bankura town with Taldangra. “We are focussed more on putting up flags this time. That creates a visual effect among supporters,” said CPM candidate Amiya Patra.