From Saurav Bora
Ukiam(Chaygaon): Dual voters in as many as nine “backward” villages under Assam’s Chaygaon constituency bordering Meghalaya’s Rambrai Jyrngam seat will queue up in front of polling booths to exercise their franchise on February 27, in the hope of “some progress”.
Sources in Ukiam, one of the nine hamlets located 27 km from Chaygaon town, told The Shillong Times that close to 50 per cent of the inhabitants of these villages will cross the Sree river through two self-built routes to cast their votes on Tuesday.
Chaygaon in Kamrup district of Assam is about 50 km from Guwahati.
“The hanging bridge at Ukiam is currently out of bounds as a safety measure. Instead, as the river is shallow now, we have set up a wooden bridge over a mound of pebbles for voters to cross over to the polling booth (a police battalion camp) in Meghalaya,” said Biralson Marak, the headman of Ukiam, pointing at the Assam-type structure (visible from Assam) being readied for Tuesday’s polling.
The other route, to be taken by the majority to Natun Gaon in Meghalaya, is at Sanginital.
Apart from Ukiam, in the other villages having dual voters – Umthuli, Nunmati, Biorongdong, Talimara, Umkhampara, Dambalsiring, Maodanggop and Warigo –almost 95 per cent of the residents are from the Garo community.
“There are 140 households with an electorate of over 300 in Ukiam itself, and all are dual voters. Similarly, there are over 100 people who have two EPIC cards in Umthuli. The rest have less than 100 each who have voted in both Meghalaya and Assam,” Berington Marak, a resident of Umthuli, said.
Rambrai Jyrngam in West Khasi Hills district has an electorate of 32,263 people (updated last month) with 16,385 male and 15,878 female voters.
Six candidates including K Phlastingwell Pangniang (HSPDP), Kimfa Sidney Marbaniang (Congress), Alfred Kharbani (NPP), Synranlang Nongshlong (PDF), Sumis Marak (BJP) and Sillash M Sangma (Independent) are in the fray.
Reality bites
Apparently, the “dual privilege” has not helped these interior laidback villages to reap the fruits of progress. Repeated pleas for better interior roads have fallen on deaf ears in the past two decades, sources say. The five-km gravel stretch to Umthuli from Ukiam, for instance, has its share of twists and turns, literally, with rickety, unattended wooden bridges and culverts, treacherous bumps coupled with dicey troughs prolonging the “ordeal and making it seem like a 10 km rough, roller-coaster ride.
“With no help from either side, villagers along with a Boko-based NGO have come together to set up a pathway of sorts with earth and pebbles. During the monsoon season, the route cannot be taken by anyone. School-going children have to suffer the most,” said Nihubirth Sangma, a farmer of Nunmati.
Ukiam has now developed into a popular picnic site.
“It’s sad the authorities have not developed Ukiam into a tourist spot,” Berington said.
Sections here are now hinging their hopes on the outcome of the Meghalaya Assembly elections on March 3.
“Barring the 27 km road from Chaygaon to Ukiam, which despite a 5 km dilapidated stretch has made access to the town a lot easier now, the MLA in Assam has done precious little. Meghalaya has done better, though not enough. Phlasting (as KP Pangniang who served as Rambrai Jyrngam MLA from 2013, is known here) has given us few metres of pucca roads to some villages apart from a concrete bridge (for pedestrians and two-wheelers only) over the Drone river. So, this election is important for us,” Chamberlain Marak, the headman of Umthuli, said.
Moreover, telecom network too has not penetrated to most these villages.
“Once you are here, there is no mobile phone network. People who have phones have to climb up a hill on the fringes to be fortunate enough to get network,” B Momin, a farmer, said.
Education woes
None of the border villages have a government school not to mention a college. Most youths here have dropped out of schools and taken up activities such as farming, cattle/pig rearing and pisciculture.
“In the absence of a government school or college, our youths who study in the Garo medium have to go as far as Tura and Mendipathar. School dropouts have increased owing to lack of Garo medium schools and teachers in and around Chaygaon. Teachers do not want to come here. The private school at Umthuli has only two teachers to cater to about 65 students,” a villager rued.
“I studied till Class VII. Now I help my father with his grocery business. I get most of my items from Chaygaon town,” Elisha Myrthong, a first-time voter and a resident of Natungaon in Meghalaya, told this correspondent as he struggled to lift his goods-laden scooty atop the edge of the wooden pathway (underneath the hanging bridge) connecting Assam with Meghalaya.
Polling booth
Even on polling day there will be no respite for voters from Umthuli who will have to walk a few kilometres more to the polling booth on Tuesday.
“The district administration in Assam has barred us from voting at the LP school in our village. Now we have to walk a fair distance to Kyrshai to vote,” said Forwash Sangma, a farmer and a dual voter from Umthuli.
Open contest
The contest for Rambrai-Jyrngam will be more open than last time albeit HSPDP and Congress still being the heavyweights.
“Phlasting is popular here while Kimfa has a good voter base as well. We also have NPP, BJP, PDF and an Independent who are actively campaigning. Most of them have visited our villages. In fact, the Independent candidate is holding a meeting at Ukiam now,” a villager told this correspondent on Friday evening.
Asked about the dual voters, deputy commissioner of Nongstoin, Arunkumar Kembhavi told The Shillong Times that he had requested the deputy commissioner of Kamrup (Rural) through a letter for a joint hearing in this regard but there was no response.
The Election Commission since the latter half of last year has been identifying dual voters across Meghalaya and accordingly deleting their names from the list following verification.