Tajpur renews link with the Uprising, but fails to rise on development index
Pulkit Vasudha
Tajpur (Ahmedabad), July 9: FOR six years now, Tajpur village has been commemorating the 1857 mutiny through a programme attended by Ministers of State. And for six years, the ministers have come, talked about development issues and then bid adieu until the next year. Monday’s programme to mark the completion of 150 years since the revolt too ended with promises of Rs 1 lakh to develop the compound wall of the village martyrs’ memorial. Health Minister Ashok Bhatt, too, asked villagers to take task of development in their own hands. But his words didn’t evoke much response in the village which lost a soldier to the uprising.
“Politicians and ministers have been coming to Tajpur on July 9 every year only to make speeches and to be photographed. They promise funds and infrastructural development for the village and then disappear for another year,” says Kiran Makhwana, a resident.
On the ground, development has bypassed the village. Much like the highway and all public modes of transport. “Though the village is barely three kms away from the highway, we have not seen any government buses come this way in the last five years. A concrete road connecting the village to the highway was laid five years ago, but it is in a terrible shape now,” says Ranchhodbhai Visaji. With just a primary school at the village, children who go to secondary schools in Changodar (3 kms away) and Sarkhej (15 kms away) have to leg it to the highway to take a bus. The primary school at the village got a new building after a roof collapse at the earlier one in 2005, in which two children were injured. The school has 250 students, but only seven teachers.
Tajpur does not even have a primary health care centre for its 1,500 residents. The nearest government hospital is 14 kms away in Santhal. “None of the villagers go to Santhal because the hospital is two kms off the highway. The journey to Santhal on foot and by bus takes over two hours. During emergencies, the only options are private clinics in Chagodar.”
During monsoons, the village is completely cut off from the outside world. There is no access to food, fuel or medical care, say villagers. “The canal that drains into the village lake overflows every year and the barrage breaks down due to the high water pressure,” says Rajnikant Kantibhai. “Since the canal was built, the officials of the irrigation department have not made any routine visit. Nor have they conducted any repairs to prevent the overflowing of water,” he adds.
With the village flooding every year during the rainy season, villagers are forced to abandon their homes and shift to higher ground. Even the school remains closed for at least 20 days during monsoon. There are three chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing units on the road leading to the village. But only four villagers have permanent jobs. A few others work as temporary labourers in the factories.
“The toxicity of the effluent discharged from the factories is so high that plants and trees near them have withered away. A chemical stink hangs in air at all times,” says Kantibhai. “Though effluents are not discharged into the lake directly, chemicals dumped on the roads run into water bodies when it rains. We are afraid there will not be any potable water for the village in the future,” he adds.
Tajpur has a single water tank which was built in 1984-85 which has not seen any maintenance since. “The roof of the tank looks like it may collapse any day leaving the village without a source of drinking water,” say villagers. The village also does not have sanitation facilities. In the absence of toilets, men, women and children walk almost two kms on a narrow mud path around the pond daily to relieve themselves. “The cemetery of the village was abandoned after it collapsed several years ago. Dead bodies are now burnt under a large bush which acts as an umbrella against the rains,” says a villager.
Despite its rich heritage, Tajpur is one of the poorest village around Ahmedabad. Perhaps the only proud structure in this village is the small shrine dedicated to the martyrs of 1857.
“Tajpur is a historical place. The true commemoration of the revolution of 1857 would be the development of the village,” said Ashutosh Bhatt, Khadiya Itihaas Samiti secretary.
Source: Indian Express