Three-time MP and former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay, whose candidature for the Ranchi Lok Sabha constituency was declared by the Congress on Tuesday, is confident he will wrest the parliamentary seat from the BJP this time and end “the anarchy here”.
The BJP is still undecided over its Ranchi candidate, with every indication that the party’s sitting MP Ramtahal Choudhary, 77, would be dropped owing to the age factor. This uncertainty seems to have given Sahay and his followers a psychological edge.
“Vote for the Congress and get back your clean and green Ranchi,” Sahay said.
The veteran, who visited the Morabadi residence of Opposition Alliance partner and JMM patriarch Shibu Soren on Wednesday afternoon for blessings, told the media that a lot was wrong with Ranchi that he wanted to set right.
“A clueless and visionless government has messed up with Ranchi in the name of development,” he fumed. “Ranchi has become an urban slum. The capital’s civic system has collapsed. National cleanliness survey awards are stage-managed to fool people. The reality is that Ranchi Municipal Corporation and the state government have completely destroyed the city.”
Sahay called the much-hyped Ranchi Smart City project a “trick” to fool the people. “They are building a colony in HEC locality that they are calling Smart City. Even the residential premises of controversial godman Ram Rahim is bigger than the so-called Smart City,” he said.
Trying to burst the BJP’s development bubble, Sahay pointed out that Ranchi had been selected among 74 districts of India under the JNNURM project in the UPA era to change the face of the capital. “The BJP ruled Jharkhand for the most years but the government showed no interest in getting central funds then,” he said.
Dubbing the BJP-led Raghubar Das state government as “percentage government”, he said any infrastructure development project
in Ranchi was launched only to ensure cuts and kickbacks for officials.
“Has the government seriously considered what the capital needs?” he asked. “Since the past four years, drainage and sewerage construction is on. The entire project is unscientific and no major progress has been made. We actually don’t know if it will be completed in another 50 years. No serious attempt was made to streamline traffic and make proper roads. I want to do these things,” he said.
On the held-up flyover projects, one in Kantatoli and the other in Harmu, Sahay said Ranchi definitely needed flyovers but with smart planning. “You see how the government has messed up the projects. Planning was done without considering technical aspects. This is why the government revised the DPR on a number of occasions,” he said.
He claimed rates of service charges for basics such as water supply and doorstep garbage collection had risen manifold in these five years but the quality of services had gone down.
“You have all seen how the Ranchi mayor and deputy mayor misused their powers to financially benefit their family friends. Ending corruption in the RMC and rationalising taxes will be among my priorities if I am elected,” he said.
He added the BJP government played havoc with Ranchi’s environment. “From a city with greenery and nice climate, it’s now a concrete jungle with hot summers and water scarcity. All this happened owing to unplanned expansion,” he said.
“In Ranchi, there are hardly any public spaces for children to play because the government has either made buildings on that space or leased them out to some big construction players. What kind of a government is this where parks are private properties?” he said.
