As the district administration gears up for the Cabinet meet slated to be held in Dumka, State’s second capital, on February 22, Social Welfare Minister and Dumka MlA lois Marandi said that the positive initiative taken by the Raghubar Government will definitely help Santhal Pargana getting out of the developmental deadlock. The Opposition, however, dubbed it an eyewash, called in haste ahead of the budget session of the Assembly.
This will be the third cabinet meeting to be held in Dumka since the State come into being 14 years ago. Earlier, the cabinet meetings in Dumka were convened in 2007 and 2012 during regime of former Chief Ministers Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda respectively. “It is really unfortunate that despite being adequately focused by almost all political parties during elections for the last 14 years, Dumka still remains devoid of the basic civic amenities,” said Marandi.
“People here still have to travel several kilometers to reach Bhagalpur or Ranchi due to lack of adequate medical facility in the area, posing extra burden on the poor,” she added. “Entire Santhal Pargana faces similar hardships of educational facilities, drinking water or irrigation facilities,” said Marandi. According to Marandi, frequent cabinet meets will definitely bring in some benefits to Santhals as hearing it from someone else or looking it from one’s own eyes definitely makes a difference.
“If entire cabinet along with the Chief Minister visits the place frequently, the region will grab the attention giving them firsthand experience of the miseries people are going through, paving the path for the developmental projects,” said Marandi. “Till now, all the previous Governments have made only promises to the people of Santhal Pargana but this Government is doing what it promised to them,” she added.
“Though Arjun Munda, Shibu Soren and Madhu Koda visited the office on a few occasions, Hemant Soren, despite representing Dumka in the Assembly, did not turn up to look into the affairs of the CM camp office-cum-secretariat during his tenure as the Deputy Chief Minister and also as Chief Minister,” she said. The Opposition, however, is not very much convinced by the move taken by the Raghubar Government.
“This is just an eyewash to avoid the embarrassment during the budget session of Jharkhand Assembly as the present Government could not keep its promise of holding the second cabinet meeting in Dumka,” said JVM MlA Pradeep Yadav. Yadav further added that what is being done by the Government is more important.
“Holding a cabinet meeting alone is not going to solve the problem of the people of Santhal Pargana at all,” he added. “The initiatives taken up by the Government must be visible on the ground as I did during my tenure as education minister by opening a branch office of Jharkhand Academic Council in Dumka,” added Yadav.
The JMM, on the other hand, believed that the kind of regional imbalance being demonstrated during the cabinet formation by the Chief Minister itself exposes his seriousness on the developmental front. “Holding a cabinet meeting will not do; you will have to show blueprint of development for different regions like Santhal Pargana, Palamu or Kolhan, which is never going to be done,” said JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya.
Dumka, considered to be the homeland of a major chunk of the tribal population in the State, is full of stunning landscapes, majestic mountains, verdant valleys and serpentine rivers. Though Das is expected to visit Dumka by chopper, many officials and Ministers will be reaching there by train to attend the Cabinet meeting.