Kharagpur (West Bengal), Anger and disillusionment were visible on the face of 50-year-old Maqsudan Bibi, a resident of Gandhi Nagar Basti, New Bus Stand, Kharagpur, as she described the daily struggles she faces to provide for her family. ' Basic needs for a civilized life.
Maqsudan, who works as a domestic help and has been living in the Gandhi Nagar slum for most of her life, said her house never had drinking water or a proper electricity connection, with water flowing right in front. There was no mention of open drain. His house which turns the area into a habitable place during monsoon.
She said, “Every morning I walk about a kilometer to fetch drinking water from the railway supply ferrule.The supply comes once a day for one hour. If I miss that window due to illness or other emergency, there is no drinking water at home." Her one-room concrete house, complete with a kitchen and toilet, has electricity illegally connected to overhead wires. The connection was dimly lit with LED bulbs.
Maqsudan's plight was unanimously shared by the slum's nearly 400 residents.
And it's not just Gandhi Nagar Colony, about 29 slum towns spread across Kharagpur have also met the same fate, some of which are more than a century old.According to conservative estimates, the number of affected residents living without water and electricity in Kharagpur city exceeds 50,000, despite all the settlements being incorporated into the Kharagpur Municipality in 2010.
The reason given for such government indifference was that these settlements were built illegally on land owned by the Railways. And, only government communication residents received eviction notices from railway authorities from time to time.
However, the irony is that the slum dwellers have voter ID cards and other documents like Aadhaar, PAN and ration cards. Maqsudan's neighbor Basiran Bibi, whose family lives in the slum, said, "We have been living in these hellish conditions for decades. Are.Every time elections are held, candidates promise us solutions, but the problems remain the same as they were 50 years ago for three generations.
He announced, "Therefore we have decided to boycott the elections this time in our 'mohalla', so that the politicians know what disappointment of voters feels like."
Kharagpur, which is part of the Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency, will go to polls on May 25. “Look at the open drains flowing outside our houses. They are rarely cleaned and during monsoon, this filth gets mixed into the water which many It remains knee-deep in water for days and forces us to stay indoors,” said Sai Parveen Khatoon, another resident, drawing attention to the stench filling the air from the sewer lines.There is a public well in the center of the hut and it is used for bathing by men and women alike, making every semblance of decency disappear from its inhabitants.
SK Siraj, who runs a small business, complained, "During summers, when there is an acute need for water, this well dries up. That's when our real torture begins." He also appealed to the women not to vote on May 25. Supported the resolution.
Locals said the Congress councilor of the area recently paved the roads inside the settlement and installed some street lights.Interestingly, families of railway employees also live in the colony. However, their plight was no different from the rest. “Despite our votes and repeated appeals, we have no solution from the government,” said Y Durga, a gangman at the Neempura yard of the South Eastern Railway for the last 17 years.
Resident Shabana Khatoon said that the government should regularize the colony by giving land rights.
“Next should come water and electricity,” he declared."Local TMC leader Debashish Chaudhary claimed that the civic body has provided drinking water to some settlements like Kalinagar, China Town, Ne Settlement, Shantinagar and Nimpura Harijan Colony by extending the supply line from regular civic wards, where these slums are located in close proximity. Are.
Taking advantage of the proximity to the regular wards, electricity supply has also been provided, he said.
“The problem persists in isolated settlements, where such connections cannot be given on purely logistical grounds unless the Railways, which owns the land, grants the necessary permissions,” Choudhary said, adding that New houses can be built for illegal encroachers under the Central scheme, he said, adding, “It all depends on whether the Center takes a humanitarian approach to the problem and sheds its ego.Anyway these lands were vacant railway plots in which no project was planned on them."
However, Choudhary failed to provide an immediate solution for the encroachers who are stuck due to the government's policy lapses.
He said, "The leaders who have left these people in the lurch for so long have no right to ask for votes from them. The responsibility of highlighting their plight in Parliament falls on the representative of this seat, which is dedicated to the plight of The thing is that it was never done."Our part is trying in our own way to bore tube wells for some of these settlements," said local BJP leader and former councilor Gautam Bhattacharjee. On most occasions, it is the TMC that blocks our efforts by filing complaints with the railway authorities."
Saying that the party's hands are tied in the face of government protocols that the Railways must follow for such illegal encroachers, Bhattacharjee said, "A permanent solution cannot be found unless the BJP comes to power in this state .
Maqsudan, who works as a domestic help and has been living in the Gandhi Nagar slum for most of her life, said her house never had drinking water or a proper electricity connection, with water flowing right in front. There was no mention of open drain. His house which turns the area into a habitable place during monsoon.
She said, “Every morning I walk about a kilometer to fetch drinking water from the railway supply ferrule.The supply comes once a day for one hour. If I miss that window due to illness or other emergency, there is no drinking water at home." Her one-room concrete house, complete with a kitchen and toilet, has electricity illegally connected to overhead wires. The connection was dimly lit with LED bulbs.
Maqsudan's plight was unanimously shared by the slum's nearly 400 residents.
And it's not just Gandhi Nagar Colony, about 29 slum towns spread across Kharagpur have also met the same fate, some of which are more than a century old.According to conservative estimates, the number of affected residents living without water and electricity in Kharagpur city exceeds 50,000, despite all the settlements being incorporated into the Kharagpur Municipality in 2010.
The reason given for such government indifference was that these settlements were built illegally on land owned by the Railways. And, only government communication residents received eviction notices from railway authorities from time to time.
However, the irony is that the slum dwellers have voter ID cards and other documents like Aadhaar, PAN and ration cards. Maqsudan's neighbor Basiran Bibi, whose family lives in the slum, said, "We have been living in these hellish conditions for decades. Are.Every time elections are held, candidates promise us solutions, but the problems remain the same as they were 50 years ago for three generations.
He announced, "Therefore we have decided to boycott the elections this time in our 'mohalla', so that the politicians know what disappointment of voters feels like."
Kharagpur, which is part of the Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency, will go to polls on May 25. “Look at the open drains flowing outside our houses. They are rarely cleaned and during monsoon, this filth gets mixed into the water which many It remains knee-deep in water for days and forces us to stay indoors,” said Sai Parveen Khatoon, another resident, drawing attention to the stench filling the air from the sewer lines.There is a public well in the center of the hut and it is used for bathing by men and women alike, making every semblance of decency disappear from its inhabitants.
SK Siraj, who runs a small business, complained, "During summers, when there is an acute need for water, this well dries up. That's when our real torture begins." He also appealed to the women not to vote on May 25. Supported the resolution.
Locals said the Congress councilor of the area recently paved the roads inside the settlement and installed some street lights.Interestingly, families of railway employees also live in the colony. However, their plight was no different from the rest. “Despite our votes and repeated appeals, we have no solution from the government,” said Y Durga, a gangman at the Neempura yard of the South Eastern Railway for the last 17 years.
Resident Shabana Khatoon said that the government should regularize the colony by giving land rights.
“Next should come water and electricity,” he declared."Local TMC leader Debashish Chaudhary claimed that the civic body has provided drinking water to some settlements like Kalinagar, China Town, Ne Settlement, Shantinagar and Nimpura Harijan Colony by extending the supply line from regular civic wards, where these slums are located in close proximity. Are.
Taking advantage of the proximity to the regular wards, electricity supply has also been provided, he said.
“The problem persists in isolated settlements, where such connections cannot be given on purely logistical grounds unless the Railways, which owns the land, grants the necessary permissions,” Choudhary said, adding that New houses can be built for illegal encroachers under the Central scheme, he said, adding, “It all depends on whether the Center takes a humanitarian approach to the problem and sheds its ego.Anyway these lands were vacant railway plots in which no project was planned on them."
However, Choudhary failed to provide an immediate solution for the encroachers who are stuck due to the government's policy lapses.
He said, "The leaders who have left these people in the lurch for so long have no right to ask for votes from them. The responsibility of highlighting their plight in Parliament falls on the representative of this seat, which is dedicated to the plight of The thing is that it was never done."Our part is trying in our own way to bore tube wells for some of these settlements," said local BJP leader and former councilor Gautam Bhattacharjee. On most occasions, it is the TMC that blocks our efforts by filing complaints with the railway authorities."
Saying that the party's hands are tied in the face of government protocols that the Railways must follow for such illegal encroachers, Bhattacharjee said, "A permanent solution cannot be found unless the BJP comes to power in this state .
