Khunti: On Wednesday when Khunti MLA and state minister Neelkanth Singh Munda and district officials were hard-selling the dream of Khunti among India's developed districts in the next five years, Munda's party colleague Karia Munda, a BJP veteran and Khunti MP, was sitting quietly at home waiting for power.
The minister on Khunti's foundation day had said that since the district was formed on September 12, 2007, Rs 15,000 crore had been spent on its development. But, Khunti mostly hit the headlines these 11 years for all the wrong reasons, from opium farming to trafficking, from poor education system to pathalgadi self-rule. More recently, gang-rapes of social workers at a school and toddler deaths at a shelter home brought it more infamy.
When The Telegraph went to Khunti on Thursday, MP Karia Munda sat his Anigara village home in a blackout that had stretched for almost 24 hours. "The minister (Neelkanth Singh Munda) might be right about huge sums being spent, but development doesn't reflect on the ground. He should check the quality of roads. Doctors don't visit health centres, law and order is poor and rebels are again regrouping," said the MP.
In tribal-dominated Khunti, part of Ranchi till 11 years ago, aspirations are crushed by reality. In district town Khunti, students rued lack of opportunities. The district's only degree college set up in 1962, Birsa College has 10,050 students on its rolls, but does not offer postgraduate courses, pointed out student Seema Kumari. "If I want to be a college lecturer, I have to do my PG from Ranchi or Jamshedpur. But everyone doesn't have the money to send a daughter out of town for studies."
Botany teacher Surendra Mohan Yadav rued Khunti did not have a BEd college, not even an Indira Gandhi National Open University centre for distance learning.
The college girls' hostel, a G+2 structure built in 2010, presents a challenge for boarders. For years, the district administration has been using the ground floor of the building as a warehouse for EVMs. "Now, 200 girls are squeezed in anyhow. Eight girls stay in one room. There's no security guard and matron. Only lodging is free, we pay for everything else, including food and cooks," said a boarder who refused to give her name. Why is she here? "I want a career," she said as other girls nodded.
Many students pointed out that even Khunti farmers migrate to Punjab for better opportunities. "Imagine our plight," said one of the boys. "We will all be educated and unemployed if we stay here."
Social worker Jitendra Kumar rued no local youth was hired at the recent depot of Indian Oil Corporation in Khunti town. "Even security guards were hired from outside," he said.
Khunti does have a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and a Krishi Vigyan Kendra. But, a student said the much-hyped Knowledge City project, a kind of academic hub to be set up on Khunti's outskirts, was yet to see the light of the day. "Last year the government set aside 70 acres for Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University inside Knowledge City. But there's no progress," he added. "An ITI is coming up at Birhu, 8km from Khunti town, let's see when it gets ready."
The twisted form of pathalgadi - declaring self-rule - has been new source of worry for some two years in the district where rebels have been active since the mid-2000s. Officials say pathalgadi is on the wane, but MP Munda isn't sure. "In some villages, people have thrown away pathalgadi stones. But I am not sure if people have realised their mistake or it is a temporary lull," he said. "The district administration was not ready to accept the enormity of the pathalgadi problem till my house was attacked and five women were raped (in June)," the MP said.
In the interiors, resistance to the government exists, said Rukmila Devi, elected chairperson of Khunti block. "In some villages people refuse to accept government welfare projects. A month ago, Ghaghra residents chased away a contractor installing a solar pump," she claimed.
SDO Khunti Pranav Paul rattled off a long list of achievements. "We developed roads, buildings, bus stands, sports grounds. We connected remote villages with roads. The administration involves village bodies in decisions. A road project worth around Rs 204 crore is in the offing in rebel-hit areas. The lac industry is reviving. Left-wing extremism has largely been controlled."
But a closer look, and the rift between claims and realities yawns.
On Wednesday, Khunti DC Suraj Kumar claimed the district would be declared open-defecation-free very soon. Officially, the district will get the ODF tag by October 2. On Thursday, MP Munda quietly said, "I can inform the district administration about a dozen villages that lack toilets."
Pathalgadi slate clean
The gram sabha of Hatudami village on outskirts of Khunti district town on Saturday wiped out the unconstitutional statements written on a pathalgadi plaque. The gram sabha also urged parents to get children vaccinated on time and send them to schools, SP A.K. Sinha confirmed.
