Guwahati: Dokhu Rabha, headman of the picturesque Sarakpara village, is a worried man. The Rabha-dominated village in Goalpara district was gutted in the 2011 ethnic strife between Rabhas and Garos and inundated during the 2014 floods.
Sarakpara lies near the Assam-Meghalaya border, about 170 km away from Guwahati. The Jinari river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, flows by the village. It was this river that left the village gasping for breath in 2014. Falling under Goalpara East constituency, Sarakpara will vote on April 11. Five candidates from National Peoples’ Party, BJP, NCP, AIUDF and Socialist Unity Centre of India are vying for the Goalpara East seat.
Cashing in on inadequate distribution of compensation in the flood-affected village, BJP has challenged the ‘inefficiency’ of sitting MLA from AIUDF Manowar Hussain.
“We are awaiting compensation for the 2011 ethnic strife between Garos and Rabhas in which most of our houses were reduced to rubble. We are waiting for the compensation for the 2014 floods that left our beautiful village completely inundated,” said Dokhu.
The Rabha community is mostly concentrated in the Goalpara, Kamrup and Darrang districts and comprises around 2,96,189 members, according to the 2011 census.
The village, with its 200-odd inhabitants, waits patiently for better roads, education, water supply, connectivity, healthcare, and access to relief schemes. “What the villagers need is a political representative who will listen to them. The last representative has failed completely,” said Ranjit Rabha, regional branch adviser of All Rabha Students’ Union.
Moved by the plight of the villagers, a city-based non-profit organisation plans to adopt it as part of its model village plan. “The benefits of the 2014 flood relief schemes that were announced immediately after the natural disaster have not reached the villagers. There is no primary health centre and only one primary school,” said Suresh Goduka, founder of Jeevan Initiative, an NGO.
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