Broken roads, mud houses & near empty markets welcome visitors
SHILLONG/SHELLA: Broken roads, mud houses and market places begging footfall.
Welcome to the outskirts of Shella, a constituency craving development.
For the people, the October 21 Shella bypoll is just another occasion to witness the gimmick and rhetoric of the candidates and the politicians.
In fact, several candidates descended on many villages, selling dreams and appealing for votes.
The voters are sceptical about elected representatives improving their lot; they are rather convinced that they themselves have to work hard to eke out a living and nothing good can come from the politicians.
Nothing has changed for the past 30 years and nothing ever will. It is a pessimism that runs deep and goes well back in time.
While there is an overall antipathy towards the former legislator, Donkupar Roy, for having done little in his seven terms, more appalling is the deep-seated apathy towards the bypoll itself—a consequence of the years of neglect.
“Everyone is the same. Whom to vote is a dilemma we face”, said Vicky Sangma, a taxi driver in Ichamati.
Shella constituency comprising 58 polling stations has a mixed population of Khasis, Garos, Hajongs, Koches, Assamese, Boro, Rajbongshi, Bengali Hindus, some families from the tea-tribe community called locally as Desh Vali and others.
Once a thriving town before partition of India, Shella is now reduced to a place without basic amenities.
The weekly market at Shella presents the only visible sign of any activity.
The restriction to extract and export limestone without mining policy has paralysed trade and commerce.
The Lafarge cement plant in Shella does export limestone to Bangladesh through the conveyor belt, but the development activities are confined only to areas where mining of limestone is carried out.
The privately owned Komorrah Limestone Mining Company Ltd, which uses ropeways to export limestone to Bangladesh, is running in loss though many in the surrounding villages depend on the company for their livelihood.
Beyond limestone mining, dependence on agriculture and horticulture somehow ensures two meals per day for the locals residing on the outskirts of Shella.
In some patches in the border areas touching Bangladesh and the plains of Meghalaya, there are paddy and areca nut fields and men and women work hard and overtime under the scorching heat.
Cattle are reared in the border villages as many families depend on them to sustain themselves.
During a visit to several villages, it was revealed that beyond the concrete buildings constructed by a few rich and influential, there reside many a family in penury.
As far as heath care is concerned, the government had set up a PHC in Shella but there are no doctors.
“The doctor does not stay at the PHC though the nurses are there which is a cause for concern as poor patients have to suffer silently”, said R P Roy, who runs an eatery at Shella.
Deaths are common in far-flung villages. “Don’t talk about deaths of newborns, babies, children and the old due to lack of health facilities in the villages in the periphery”, said an elderly person from Patharghat, an area close to the international border.
There is no end to people’s agony in the absence of proper water supply and electricity in several villages under Shella.
Some locals have wells in their own backyards while others depend on clear river water.
On the education front, the residents of far-flung villages have to depend on educational institutes in Sohra for higher studies though Ramakrishna Mission has set up schools for the lower classes in several villages.
Rivers not exploited
Shella and its adjoining areas have many rivers bearing fish but fishing is carried out only by individuals.
The villagers are not aware of Aqua Culture Mission as the government has not promoted its activities at the ground level.
A walk through the villages reveals presence of many anglers while there are others who catch fish through traditional means.
Some local fish caught by the villagers land in the markets for sale whereas others are consumed by themselves.
Shillong-Shella
bus journey
This reporter took one-way bus ride from Shillong to Ichamati to understand the road connectivity and people’s problems better. The packed bus had mixed passengers.
Goods were loaded inside the bus causing inconvenience to passengers as they had to struggle to find space for their legs when seated.
The only stop between Sohra and Shella is at Sohra market for 15 minutes. During the journey ahead, the driver had to negotiate many dilapidated roads.
The road leading from Mawmluh, which also falls under Shella Assembly constituency, is in a deplorable state.
The worst stretch is from Laitkynsew till Mawlong and a few kilometers beyond.
Several stretches of road from Mawlong to Ichamati are not blacktopped.
The constituency needs several bridges to connect to people but some are yet to be constructed. Though the hanging footbridge from Pyrkan to Shella is a tourist attraction, this does not help the residents as they desire for a concrete bridge so that the vehicles can pass through.
Annual tax worry for the non-indigenous
The non-indigenous residents have to pay an annual tax to Sordars for the houses in which they reside and also for the use of cultivable land.
The tax ranges from Rs 100 to 1,000 annually depending on the area where they reside.
The non-indigenous residents claimed that they had settled in the area for long, cleared the forest and set up houses made of mud with thatched or tin roofs. However, the indigenous people say that the land belongs to them.
A resident of Kalatek said he has to give Rs 500 annually as tax for his house and Rs 600 to Rs 800 for the cultivable land depending on the area.
The non-indigenous people reiterated that the area was developed by them after clearing the forest.
The confusion is that many residents do not have land documents as these were not necessary in the past and there was no distinction between the indigenous and the non- indigenous. Now the indigenous people are asking for documents claiming that the land belonged to them. “But we doubt whether they have any documents,” a resident alleged.
“We cannot complain. Because it is their ministers and MLAs and their police”, another said.
Sylheti, a common language
Despite the land issues, the communities in the border areas of Shella live in harmony.
It was curious to note the Khasis, Garos and other tribes speaking Sylheti with ease. Sylheti is the lingua franca for taxi drivers, shopkeepers and people visiting the market places unlike Shillong and other towns of Meghalaya.
With dwindling economic activities, the new generation of youths in Ichamati and other adjoining areas have purchased cars which are used to ferry people to different destinations. The drivers and the passengers easily converse in Sylheti.
In the absence of proper public transport system in some areas, bikes are also used to transport the needy on payment.
No BSNL connectivity
There is no coverage of BSNL mobile network in the border areas starting from Mawlong village to Ichamati and beyond.
A visitor with BSNL mobile will be cut off as there are no BSNL towers in many areas under Shella.
In the absence of BSNL mobile connectivity, the residents are using other service providers like Jio and Airtel which have wide network coverage.