Road to nowhere?

Darpan singh
Yuvrajpur, (Ghazipur), April 26
Five-time SP MLA and a Minister in the Mulayam Singh government, Om Prakash Singh, who represents Dildarnagar constituency in the state assembly, is a worried man nowadays. Interestingly, it is not his rivals but a 7-km-long road which is giving him sleepless nights.
Nearly 15,000 voters of six villages, namely, Kalupur, Sujanpur, Bawade, Bhikhichaura, Yuvrajpur and Patkhaniya, all considered to be Rajput dominated villages – situated along the Shaheed Vishwambher Singh road, about 13 km from ghazipur town – have long been voting for Singh en block. The popularity as well as Singh’s clout in the area could be gauged from the fact that more than 10,000 voters have, generally, cast their votes in his favour. At times, more than 100 percent of votes have been polled for Singh!
This election, the villagers have, however, decided to teach him a lesson. Reason: The road, which was built more than a decade ago to honour a CRPF officer of the village who was killed fighting terrorists in Punjab, is in an utterly bad state. Despite the fact that a sum of Rs 80 lakh was sanctioned for its repair a year back, its condition remains the same.
Radhegobind, a villager, said, “The road was negotiable but it was, about a year back, completely destroyed by a contractor at the behest of the Minister on the pretext that it will be constructed afresh. According to him, the construction work never started. Another villager Radheshyam Singh said, “Haman ke barsat mein Ghazipur jaaye ke khati doosar rasta se 10 km jyada paidal chale ke padal.” He said so deplorable was the road that patients suffered a lot during the period and a couple of women in labour pain had to deliver kids well before reaching hospital.
Talking to the HT, residents of these villages said that when they lodged a complaint with the Minister, he said money has been sanctioned and work would be completed soon. He reportedly said, “Road banwa ke chunav nahi jita jata.” Now the villagers seem irate and many of them have made it a prestige issue of Rajput community.
A resident of Bawade, Shailendra Singh, said, “Ei ab haman ke pratishtha ke sawal ha, eh chunav mein mantriji ke aapan bhul ke ahsas ho jayee.” Meanwhile, the construction work has recently been restarted, apparently gauging the mood of villagers, which has only angered them with any kind of vehicular movement on it becoming almost impossible. The pace and quality of work also leaves a lot to be desired.
Interestingly, Singh is not visiting these villages as part of his election campaign as he is reportedly apprehending protest from the villagers. Mahesh Kumar, a native of Patkhaniya, said, “We will not talk to Om Prakash, nor will we let him visit our village. We’ll talk only to Amar singh now.” Singh could not be contacted for his comments as he was said to be busy campaigning.
Sources said Singh would never like to lose what has always been regarded as his bastion and a crucial factor behind his every victory and do his best to ‘make amends’ at the eleventh hour. However, BSP candidate from Dildarnagar, Pasupati Nath Rai, may not be as ‘influential’ as Singh, who has also represented Ghazipur in Lok Sabha, but, as a political observer jokingly remarked, it should not come as a surprise if the row over the road helps him smile his way to the state assembly!