Pratapgarh weighs its 15 years as ‘new district’ afresh

As another batch of new districts were announced in Rajasthan two months ago, the people of Pratapgarh started thinking of the changes that came in the area in the last 15 years. For many in Pratapgarh, which was made Rajasthan’s 33rd district in 2008 by the then Vasundhara Raje government, the days leading up to the November 25 assembly polls are a time for taking stock and seeking corrections.

In this southern district, which was carved out of Chittorgarh, Udaipur and Banswara districts, 80% of the population belongs to the low-income group. The new district tag had raised expectations high about rapid progress in health and education services, industrialisation and tourism development. But little has been achieved so far, as TOI found in a reality check.

The government college in Pratapgarh, the region’s biggest college with 4,500 students, is housed in a set of dilapidated buildings. Most classrooms have cracks big enough for pigeons to make nests or families of mice to take refuge. There are just 43 permanent faculty members for 4,500 students.

“Not much is in the hands of the college authorities,” said Prof Sourindra Mohan Roy of the zoology department, who also serves as the college in-charge in the principal’s absence. There are “guest faculties in good numbers,” he said, adding that ev- ery student’s needs are taken care of.

Nand Kishore, a BSc firstyear student, disagreed. Having come to attend classes from a village 40 km away, he was aghast to find all the classes of the day stood cancelled due to the election training for the faculty members. “We have ten subjects, but we have just two teachers, and they come occasionally. It is impossible for us to be competent enough for nationallevel examinations,” said Kishore.

Barely a kilometre away from the college stands the district’s main government hospital. It receives an average of 1,300 OPD patients daily and witnesses about 150 admissions each day. Not a sin- gle wheelchair and stretcher could be seen at the entrance of the emergency ward, and the TOI team found saw no doctors in the chambers.

“There is an acute shortage of doctors here, and there are no specialists,” said Dr Vikas Nagar, a paediatrician at the hospital. “We have 35 beds for preand post-birth mothers, but sometimes the admissions go up to 100,” he added.

The hallway adjacent to Nagar’s chamber housed a women’s ward that was so full of patients that mattresses were laid in the waiting area. Many beds were shared by two women patients. Chief medical officer Deepak Dayma, when contacted for comment, refused to offer any.

Pratapgarh district is rich in minerals such as zinc and quartz, and it is best suited for windmills, but it is yet to see exploration of these on an industrial scale. “Most industrial schemes and policies released by Jaipur never touch the district,” rued said Ravi Prasad Anjana, a local businessman.

Even social cohesion, which was the backbone of the drive for a separate district, has suffered in the past 15 years. “The ‘tribal versus non-tribal’ debate and demand for a separate state of Bhil Pradesh, with Pratapgarh proposed as one of its districts, is the biggest threat to social cohesion. Open calls of ‘tribal first and tribal last’ made by parties like BTP often frighten us,” said Deepak Pandya, a local community leader in Pratapgarh.