Dhanbad, April 20: If the people here aren’t particularly excited by the general elections, they have their reasons. For, Sindri residents are lodged in a battle for survival.

Once a teeming city equipped with all facilities, including 250 hospitals, parks and other facilities, things took a turn for the worst when the Fertiliser Corporation of India factory shut down in 2002.

Today it’s a sad replica of what it was. And the 30,000 voters of Sindri — it’s in the Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituency — can’t be blamed if they say they are fed up.

The township, which covers over 6,500 quarters of the Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI), is deprived of a hospital and residents have no other option than travelling over 30km to Dhanbad to address a medical emergency. Lack of transport during the night further aggravated the situation. FCI’s action of renewing the lease of the quarters every year further puts a question mark on the survival of the residents. Eviction notices have also been served on several FCI employees, including their widows.

Lack of state-run schools is another problem for the residents. Lack of job opportunities in different areas, including Baliapur, Sindri, Manohartand, Rodhabandh and Kandra further created problems. Earlier, over 1,500-1,600 residents worked in the factory as contract labourers.

After the FCI shut, over 2,200 people employed in various wings such as power, ammonia, steam generation and material handling plant and pollution control department, were to get a maximum package of Rs 8 lakh each under a voluntary separation scheme.

Now, it has been over six years since FCI opted out of the scheme. A majority of the employees have been deprived of full benefits. Employees have filed cases in different courts, right from the lower court and labour courts to the Supreme Court.

Eviction notices had also been served on them. But, the high court intervened, saving them.