Fear factor vs feel-good...!

NAGAR SWASTHYA adhikari BBS Rathore, SDO LESA and many government officials have, out of fear, vowed never to visit the ward. The LMC has to recover over house tax worth Rs 50 lakh in this ward but officials could never muster courage to either realise the money or initiate action against the residents. LESA claims it has to recover Rs 2 crore from this ward, but officials are afraid of even visiting the ward. Jal Sansthan staff too has no courage to collect the pending  Rs 10 lakh from the residents. Despite this, the ward gets 6 out of 10 for development work. The ward loses points because of encroachment, extortion, safety, and fear. Power, water or roads are no issue in the ward. The fear factor is largely attributed to corporator of the ward Atul Yadav, popularly known as Bantu Yadav, who is reportedly the blue-eyed boy of the chief minister.

Bantu has thrashed government officials and even held the LMC, LESA and Jal Sansthan teams hostage a number of times. It is he who decides where streetlights would be fitted, or roads would be dug up to lay the cables. He has allegedly sold out pavements to encroachers whom he also provides power and water connections through a parallel system he runs in the area.

Bantu’s terror keeps residents from registering any complaint. Narhi shopkeeper Shashi laments, “We have learned to live with encroachments, but I can’t say anything as I have to live and earn here.”  A chemist of the locality, on condition of anonymity, says, “When people’s representatives start promoting encroachments there is little any one could do. Our corporator has encroached an entire lane. When I objected, he threatened me with dire consequences.”

Resident Radhey Shyam says, “There is no footpath in Narhi and roads are all encroached. Obviously, encroachment can’t flourish without help of the people’s representative, police and municipal corporation officials.”

On other hand, there are some who praise the corporator too. “He got roads, drains and sewer lines repaired. Street lights are in a good condition,” said SN Sahai. “Call it fear or anything, but the ward has been receiving uninterrupted power supply since the corporator thrashed power staff in the substation,” said Ramwati.

But, Bantu says, “Where would the poor vendors go, if they were removed from the roads? What’s wrong in their earning and feeding their families out of temporary shops? If any one proves it’s wrong, I’ll quit politics.”

On the manhandling of government staff, he says, “LESA men were misbehaving with women in the absence of men in their houses in my ward so I had to interfere and object to their high-handedness. If they have to snap connections, they must come when men are around. Similarly, LMC staff keeps ignoring the request until they are not forced.”