Although Jharkhand celebrated its 16th Foundation Day on the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda on Sunday and prominent personalities keep on visiting the revolutionary freedom fighter’s birthplace Ulihatu, the area does not seem to see a face of development in the last 16 years since the state came into being. Officials however, claimed that the area wills soon to get a facelift as project to develop it has been sanctioned by the state government.
“The project has been sanctioned by the State Government and the tender has already been floated for the same. As soon as the tender process is completed, work will be started,” said Tourism Secretary Avinash Kumar. Civic amenities like park, museum and guest house will be constructed under the project, said the Secretary.
Situated some 50kms away from Ranchi, Ulihatu and Dombari Buru located in Khunti district holds immense significance for Jharkhand given their association with tribal legend Birsa Munda, but are yet to see the face of development.
Ulihatu, mostly dominated by the tribal population in the heart of the extremism-affected Khunti district lacks even some of the basic amenities and are plagued by health issues like malaria and malnourishment.
Officials however claimed that the security condition of the area has improved a lot in the last few years. “Situation is not so worse here as it generally projected. We are quite hopeful that once these projects are implemented here, the situation is bound to improve,” said Khunti DC Dr Prasad Krishna Waghmare.
Two separate Ranchi-based consultants for the twin sites of Ulihatu and Sutiambe have been roped in with the purpose of conservation and development of the area who are preparing detailed project reports (DPRs) for conservation and development from the tourism point of view. The officials however denied o reveal the names of the consultants.
Today, virtually everything in Jharkhand is named after Birsa Munda the airport, the athletics stadium where the National Games opened in 2011 and the Central Jail where former Chief Minister Madhu Koda was imprisoned.
Ulihatu, Birsa’s birthplace, becomes something of a site of pilgrimage on November 15, his birth anniversary and the day Jharkhand was made in 2000. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and almost every prominent personality like Babulal Marandi, Shibu Soren made it a point to visit the place.
