Jagatdal Polls: Rain Highlights Neglect of Infrastructure and Civic Issues

Up until now, the main political topics in Jagatdal's Behara Para, the backyard of sitting MP Arjun Singh's home in Barrackpore, some 41 km north of Calcutta, had been unemployment, inflation, the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and Trinamool's Lakshmir Bhandar project.

All of these problems were eliminated in the hutment-dotted neighborhood on Monday afternoon when a strong 40-minute downpour came through. The rain eventually flooded a concrete road that led to the two polling places in Behara Para, Hindi Pathshala and Balika Vidyalaya.

On Sunday, water started to pour into hutments on both sides of the street, and individuals confined to booths had to walk through murky water to exercise their democratic right.

"Avoid glancing at the water level. The water level will rise further, submerging the surrounding area and causing women to close their primary doors to prevent water from seeping into their houses. That has been the situation for a number of years. For multiple elections thus far," stated Amjad Khan, a former employee of jute mills.

Khan was surrounded by a few other Behara Para members beneath a tin shack. The polling booths were merely yards away, yet they were unreachable due to precipitation.

We have been calling for adequate drainage in our neighborhood for many years. The water is meant to be transported to the main road via the drains. They don't. Bhaiya is conscious of our situation. But he's occupied battling for the MP position," Ashok Shaw remarked.

Arjun Singh is the Bhaiya in most people's backyards in Jagaddal.

To make matters worse for everyone, the rains continued to pelt the area. Gun-toting central force jawans started searching for umbrellas outside the voting places. The power snapped and people inside the booths lighted candles.

The throng around Khan sought sanctuary within Ashok's supermarket.

The neighborhood's two large green spaces were formerly employed as rainwater storage facilities. Buildings have now begun to rise. When the monsoon arrives, the pupils at these two elementary schools suffer, according to homemaker Roshni Khatun.

In the past few years, there hasn't been a new higher secondary school established in this region. We are no longer whining. Rain and waterlogging on election day dimmed the woman's joy, but she continued, "There aren't any takers for our grievances."

Locals demonstrated to this correspondent how the flooding following the downpour was a widespread occurrence, not just affecting the vicinity of Singh's political rival Somenath Shyam's office, the Jagatdal MLA for Trinamool.

There's a rumor around the neighborhood that the Trinamool leadership disregarded the sitting MP, who had become a BJP nominee and joined the ruling party in Bengal, because of Shyam's adamant opposition to Singh. Singh was brought back to the saffron party by heartburn, where he was given the much-needed ticket.

"Shyam's superiors paid attention to him and refused to give Bhaiya the ticket. However, neither Shyam nor Bhaiya ever noticed waterlogging in our neighborhood," a group of young people gathered at a tea shop close to Shyam's workplace exclaimed.

On election day, a covered room across from Shyam's office was transformed into a lavish kitchen, and the aroma of biryani filled the air.

After the polls are over, we'll have biryani. Waterlogging will be forgotten by the leaders, a Trinamool employee declared.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.