Poll fever grips Gomtinagar’s country cousin

LUCKNOW: It just takes a railway track to help you cross over from Gomtinagar to the semi-urban villages in Gomtinagar Extension. But there’s a world of a difference; while the former is the hub of swanky offices and has some of the most sought after high-rise apartment buildings, the latter has houses which don’t even have numbers.
“The name and the nearest landmark are sufficient to guide anyone to a person’s house.Some also use khasra sankhya (plot number as per revenue record),” says electrical contractor R K Dwivedi, almost nonchalantly, who stays near Gorakhnath temple in Khargapur graam panchayat. Eight years ago, he shifted to the city from Faizabad in search of greener pastures.
Pucca roads are yet to be constructed in this part of the town and a sewage system does not exist. Every household relies on submersible or borewell pumps for their water needs. At Khargapur and Makdumpur, the election fever is back and basic infrastructure is the top agenda again for aspirants vying to become pradhan.
Boundary wall of houses are covered with posters and candidates are trying hard to meet the voters personally. Almost all the aspirants have hired vehicles equipped with sound system to promulgate their agenda. Reserved for women, 18 female candidates are in the fray for votes of 4,700-odd voters in Khargapur while 10 male candidates are striving for the maximum share from 3,700 votes in Makdumpur graam panchayat.
In this noisy background, senior manager with a private firm Shashi Ranjan steps out of his house. “The conditions will not improve unless the Nagar Nigam takes over. A panchayat head cannot get us urban facilities,” he says. Everyday, Ranjan has to negotiate kuchcha roads to reach his house in the crossover worth about Rs 10 lakh.
Former employee of state’s electricity board, R B Joshi, was among the first ones to settle down in Khargapur. “I built the house in 1992. Land rates were low back then. Now, however, rates per square foot hover close to Rs 3,500 in prime locations connected to main road. Plots can also be bought at Rs 800 psf as well,” he says.
Thankfully, power situation has improved from the time LDA has acquired portion of Khargapur panchayat to set up sector VI in Gomtinagar Extension. “Electricity poles were set up in 2009; before that we had to use our own resources to get power from the local transformer,” Joshi adds.
Shaheed Path has brought a lot of relief by way of improving connectivity. Earlier, a motorist had to wait for over 20 minutes every morning or evening to get to the other side because of railway tracks that separate Khargapur, Makdumpur, Malesamau from Gomtinagar. “With Shaheed Path, accessibility is much better but our sitting pradhan Divesh Kumar Yadav had no role in this,” says Chandra Singh. A government employee, Singh stays in sector 1, Vardan Khand under Makdumpur panchayat.
After delimitation, Makdumpur has been notified as a separate panchayat this time. It used to be part of the Khargapur till last rural body elections. TOI caught up with Suman Tiwari, a candidate trying her luck at Khargapur. “I will provide better roads and water supply in the area,” Tiwari promises.
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Chandrashekhar, resident of Zurakhan Purwa village says, “Haphazard construction work has taken place. Funds are allocated for development work in pockets which traditionally vote for the sitting pradhan and others are neglected.”
Anil Joshi, a resident of Khargapur says, “Things are improving with time. Now we have unisex gym in the neighbourhood. You cannot call it a village anymore. People have constructed plush houses and move around in expensive SUVs just like any other location in the city.”