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Of power, electricity and politics

Soroor Ahmed in the Chatra-Palamau belt

Rainfall is usually scanty here and, consequently, drought is common. The infamous famine of 1966-67 wreaked havoc here but contributed to the socio-economic transformation of the area. During high summer some roadside motels used to put up the notice: "Paani mang kar sharminda na karen (Don't ask for water and shame us)."

However, it is cloudy here these days. It even rained a few days ago in some areas and the para-military forces and other poll personnel are praying for a downpour on February 12, Election Day, so that mines laid down by ultra left outfits are shorted or otherwise damaged.

Mine blasts in this are have claimed about 40 police personnel. Police officials posted in the region concede that they fear another series of blasts this time.

The fear of the extreme left apart, Palamau and adjoining Garhwa and Chatra districts are known for their extreme poverty. Palamau is ranked among the poorest districts of the country. Till 1950, there was 40 per cent forest cover here. Today it has more than halved.

Experts attribute the droughts here to rampant deforestation, which has played havoc with the ecology. But this has never become an election plank for any party. The Bharatiya Janata Party feels everything will be fine once Vananchal is formed.

In two assembly segments of Palamau district the party has fielded rank outsiders as their nominees. These are Baljit Ram and Awadesh Singh, two ministers in the Rabri cabinet, who quit when they felt that the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal would not give them tickets.

From the district headquarters, Daltonganj, the National Democratic Alliance has put up Inder Singh Namdhari, a Sikh businessmen who, till 1990, was the BJP state president. He then joined the Laloo bandwagon only to leave it in 1997. At present he is a senior Janata Dal (U) leaders, but has a very uneasy relationship with the local BJP.

Daltonganj is a transit town not far away from the Madhya Pradesh border. The national power station and other industries in Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh has caused many to migrate from the region.

Daltonganj today boasts of a Hindi daily newspaper. In Bihar, only Ranchi, Patna, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad have daily Hindi newspapers. People wonder as to how it runs in this small town of 100,000 without any advertisement support -- there is hardly any big industry here.

What the common people don't know is that it has a good circulation in the adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It helps that the eastern districts of both these states are industrialised and are home to many advertisers.

Palamau district has yet another thing to brag about -- it has the famous Netarhat residential school that still produces most of the toppers in the high school exam every year. Last year too, eight of the 10 toppers from Bihar came from this school, situated in the forest area of South Palamau.

Old-timers said Palamau-Garhwa has transformed since the drought of 1966-67.

The drought of 1966-67 drew the attention of the foreign press and relief workers to the region. Among the latter were Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan and other socialist stalwarts. NGOs and church organisation also contributed. All this had an impact on the socio-economic structure of the two districts, once notorious for feudal landlords and mahajans.

However, life is bleaker in Chatra district further east. The super thermal power plant in north Karanpura, for which Prime Minister Vajpayee laid down the foundation stone on March 5, is yet get going. The BJP blames the state government for this, though it is actually a central government project.

Local people like Kameshwar Prasad fear that this power project may never see the light of the day.

This power plant was first inaugurated by then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at Nabinagar in 1988. However, it could not be completed.

The BJP government transferred this project from Nabinagar (Aurangabad) to North Karanpura in Chatra after pressure was put on it. But it didn't help Dhirendra Agrawal, the man behind the move, and he lost the seat to RJD's Nagmani in the 1999 election.

The Samata Party also lost the Aurangabad seat because the people there were upset that their thermal power plant was shifted elsewhere.

Assembly Election 2000

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