This battle of Buxar is still on

KATHKAULI (BUXAR): The historical Battle of Buxar, fought here between the Tommies of East India Company and the Mughal Emperor and Nawabs, ended way back in 1764, but for the 500-odd villagers here, another battle ��� the battle for survival ��� has been continuing since long.
These villagers, most of them Muslims and vegetable growers, cannot go to the town to sell off their produce without paying, what they say, toll to a neighbouring Jaso villager.
���Between our village and the road that leads to the district headquarters town lies an 8 foot X 50 foot land owned by a Jaso villager and he charges a fee for letting us pass through his land,��� said Mahtab Alam, a Kathkauli resident. The annual toll is paid either in cash or in kind, depending on the landowner���s whims and fancy. Last year he demanded a share in the crop. Though the villagers resented and resisted the demand, they finally gave in. ���We had no option. The landowner barricaded the area and we were virtually cut off from the outside world,��� Alam said.
Not that it never struck the villagers to buy the small piece of land and solve the problem once and for all. ���But the canny landowner does not agree,��� said Jasiruddin, another villager.
Politicians and VIPs keep coming to the village to pay homage to the soldiers killed in the 1764 battle. ���The then Bihar governor, A R Kidwai, visited the village twice,��� Jasiruddin said and added none of them, however, kept their promise to resolve the road issue.
This being election time, promises are being made afresh. But Kathkaulivillagers are hardly impressed. ���We are now resigned to the fate,��� said Abdul Hai Khan.