From Saurav Borah
DALU, Feb 19: The dilapidated condition of this 43-km winding stretch on national highway (NH)-51 from Tura town to this laidback constituency along the India-Bangladesh border made the relatively short journey feel much longer than it was.
Quite strangely though, a few patches of good road amid the bad gave hope, only temporarily. Some portions are under repair at present, which apparently causes more inconvenience to commuters owing to the diversions and dust particles.
Delving deep, the ramifications of the decrepit stretch are huge when one takes into account the number of patients that need to be taken from Dalu to either Tura or Shillong for treatment.
Given that the constituency shares a border with Mymensingh district of Bangladesh, one would have thought that the seat might be prone to illegal infiltration from across the border. But that is not the case, and the only “infiltrators” that are seen are herds of marauding wild elephants from the jungles nearby. Interestingly, the border seat does not have any Muslim population as yet, residents say.
Cancer cases
But what is staggering is the high number of cancer cases Dalu has reported over the past few years.
One such case is that of Prallad Dalu, 49, a father of four and a second-stage oral cancer patient with a growing lump on the right side of his neck. Such is his condition that he has to struggle to get his voice.
Lack of access to basic healthcare and medicine, not to mention specialists, at the CHC (community health centre) had prompted the family to take him to NEIGRIHMS Shillong where he was diagnosed with the dreaded disease four months back.
Now they desperately want to take him to Mumbai and give him back the life needed to start afresh. But there are constraints.
“We want to take him to Mumbai but don’t have the money for treatment. There has been no help over the past few months from the incumbent legislator, Now, we have approached the BJP candidate this time and he has assured help and asked us to go to Guwahati first,” said an emotional Kanduri Dalu, wife of Prallad, while taking out the medical reports and prescriptions from a packet.
“We depend solely on the income earned from the warmly cooked food sold in our small hotel,” she said, venting her ire at the lack of medicine at the CHC at Dalu.
Substantiating Kanduri’s case, Bhanu Pal, 50, an auto-rickshaw driver and a friend of Prallad, said about 40 percent of people in Dalu are suffering from cancer.
“There are cases of tooth decay and staining as well. Please highlight our case so that the MLA or the government can take note of how grave the situation has become now,” Pal said.
“Ironically, there are more wine shops here than pharmacies, just to let you know the state of affairs here,” he added.
The cancer cases, the residents believe, have been triggered by the iron and arsenic content in the “drinking” water pumped out of deep tube wells.
“My wife passed away after battling liver cancer four years back. We suspect that most of the cancer cases, particularly oral and throat cancers, have something to do with the poor quality of drinking water,” said Raju Hajong, a mohori (volunteer) under PWD (roads) contractors in the area.
Water scarcity
Hajong also pointed out that there is scarcity of water too. “My well has gone dry now and I will have to wait till the monsoon season for water to accumulate there. As of now we have to make do with whatever amount others provide us for drinking,” he said.
Ting R Marak’s case is no different. The man in his mid-thirties has to knock others’ doors for his daily glasses of drinking water. “We have not benefitted anything yet from the Jal Jeevan Mission either,” the man from Asiragare locality, rued.
To make matters worse, the lone PHE tank nearby, which has a capacity of several thousand litres, has gone dry for years, making a mockery of the department as such.
With a mixed population comprising people from Dalu, Garo, Hajong, Koch and Bengali communities, 57 Dalu LAC is the smallest Assembly constituency among the 60 seats of Meghalaya with 22007 voters.
Other issues that plague most constituencies in Garo Hills, including Dalu, are load-shedding, lack of adequate schools and colleges to name but a few.
Interestingly, one of the contesting candidates had recently alleged that some villages and houses have no electricity connection even as they were provided smart meters.
“We are not quite sure about such a scenario. But load-shedding and power scarcity are common problems,” Pal said.
No RCC bridge
On the other hand, the constituency does not have an RCC bridge. All of them are wooden and most of them dilapidated.
This correspondent took stock of one such bridge over the Bakala River, adjacent to the barbed wired “no man’s land” along the international border, and saw vehicles, including vegetable-laden mini trucks, pass over it slowly, braving the potential risk of the rickety bridge collapsing under pressure.
“We have been informed that there will never be an RCC bridge here, at least for the time being,” Hajong said, while adding that the residents want a people’s MLA, who is visible in the seat, accessible and addresses the basic issues in the coming term.
To sum it up, the general mood in Dalu is that the powers that be had done precious little in the past, indicative of the accumulating problems that the residents have had to grapple with for years and decades.
Battle lines drawn
Plethora of issues apart, the poll battle, come February 27, seems to be interesting with as many as nine contestants, including three Independent candidates, in the fray.
BJP’s Akki Sangma, who has gone hammer and tongs at the incumbent NPP MLA, Brening A Sangma, allegedly for not achieving “anything” over the past five years, is confident of a good show, especially after a campaign by the bigwigs here.
The sitting MLA, Brening, 60, however could not be contacted for his comments by this correspondent despite several calls.
Thirty-year-old Akki, who is contesting the polls on the saffron party’s development agenda, had said that there was so much to do in several sectors, primarily healthcare and education, besides provision of basic amenities such as drinking water, electricity and RCC bridges.
The other contestants are Sengkal A Sangma from the All India Trinamool Congress, Roger Benny A Sangma (Indian National Congress), Kenethson Sangma (United Democratic Party), Panseng R Marak (Republican Party of India-A) besides three Independent candidates, Sarbha R Marak, Diraj D Marak and Promod S. Koch.