The poor at Hutar —a hamlet situated 34 Kilometers away from Daltonganj and separated from Latehar district’s Barwadeeh police station by rain fed Koyal river, the only source of water here— demand no entry of Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP) and Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) extremists’.
Sources said this is the paradigm shift in the attitude of the poor who were seen as the harbour of the extremists but now the same ask police to curb and contain them as these people have seen the ‘real faces’ of the extremists.
The Pioneer is not naming the villagers this correspondent spoke to in order to ensure their safety. One of them said “Restrict the entry of extremists of JJMP and TPC and then our lives will be easier here.”
Another villager seconded him. “There is a police picket at Hutar. With its presence here we feel safe but there is still something big and hard to be done to check the coming and going out of the extremists,” he said.
Koyal river between Palamu and Latehar and the huge dense jungles are the factors that extremism is still here, said many villagers. This river turns out to be the life line of the extremists, they added.
Sources said five years back no villager had enough courage to speak names of the extremists or their outfits but today the villagers pointedly say “JJMP’s Mahesh Bhuiyan is a name of terror here. This tall man is ruthless.”
A dalit woman told the SDPO Sadar Sandip Kumar Gupta, “They come in groups and demand money.” She said she has faith in Gupta and thus she spoke about the rebels.
Gupta asked the woman to call other women and chase the rebels with batons to which this woman looked around for affirmation of it by other sitting women but many of them presented a look of distancing from the idea.
Gupta then said in a very tough tone, “Do not worry. Our cops will neutralize the extremists. Just keep us informed. We will see that they are gone from here.”
A villager there said “Just four or five days ago one bad soul having murder charges asked the forest personnel raising nursery there to cough up money which was denied.”
The mukhiya of Hutar Ramesh Bhuiyan urged the SDPO to bail out the villagers due to the fear of the extremists.
Hutar police picket is around 20 Km from the nearest police station Ramgarh and the stretch of 10 Km of it is not even road by any standard said a local Rajesh Ram a dalit.
Cops at Hutar police picket have learnt to live with two things – the arduous life and dirt.
So stung was the SDPO Gupta by the dirt around that he asked the picket in charge Manoj Kumar Mandal to keep the building neat and clean and if he finds the filth around next time he will take all inmates of this picket to task.
The picket is in two storeyed building originally meant for sub health cente which has beautiful tiles inside the building with anti slippery stair case but the cops here hardly bother to keep the building clean.
Cops and villagers at Hutar have similar problem – the crisis of safe drinking water. The fluoride content in the underground water is beyond permissible limit but as there is no other way around villagers drink the same water.
Cops are a bit luckier. They buy cans of 20 litres of purified water for drinking while for other chores of life the cops depend upon the same high fluoride content water.
Vivek Kumar, a cop here said, “Safe drinking water is a luxury. There is no dearth of water for us to wash ourselves, utensils and food items but for drinking there is a crisis.”
SDPO Gupta said, “Such pickets located at cut off areas need our attention most. I remain in touch with my cops here. I will see what better can be done.”
Gupta has promised one net and volley ball to the cops here to play and keep fit.