“Look at these open drainage lines,” Umabai Langde says. “They don’t clean it for months. It smells; mosquitoes come, and diseases. Water comes once in two days, for a few minutes. Most of the time we have to fetch water from a well.”
These complaints are not unusual anywhere in rural Maharashtra, or for that matter, in many cities. What makes them stand out — and why Ms. Langde is so upset — is because this is Fetri, a village near Nagpur, which Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ‘adopted’ in 2015, promising to make it a model village. The Chief Minister’s wife, Amruta Fadnavis, and Sameer Meghe, the BJP MLA in whose constituency Fetri falls, took responsibility for making good on that promise.
Fetri isn’t isolated: its sits next to a state highway. It isn’t particularly impoverished: many residents here have sold land to companies and colleges, or to make way for roads, and used the money to build concrete houses. The CM’s adoption was perhaps because this where he began his campaign when he first contested the Assembly elections in 1999.
A year-and-a-half later, though, Fetri still doesn’t have even basic amenities, let alone significant development.
“Where is the change?” Ms. Landge asks. Her daughter-in-law Meera answers the rhetorical question: “At least in our ward, there is none visible. Even this cement road was build four years ago. There may be some development in the sarpanch’s ward.”
Yadav Dhone, who lives on the outskirts, says he must fetch water from a well half a kilometre away, in cans strapped to his motorbike. He is not alone. “There are no water or electricity connections in the 50 houses around mine.” In such circumstances, people find a way, of course; all 50 houses openly steal electricity.
Rajendra Dhone, who lives in the Dalit quarter — like most villages in Maharashtra, caste Hindus and Dalits live together amicably, but in de facto segregated neighbourhoods — is not happy either. “We don’t feel that this is the CM’s adopted village,” he says. “Most of the development is on the outskirts, like making the graveyard wall.” Mr. Dhone is rebuilding his house, but thanks to irregular water supply, he has had to install a 400-metre-long pipe from a well on a nearby farm. “Three cement roads have been built, but all are in the BJP member’s ward. [He refers to Jyoti Raut, the Gram Panchayat (GP) representative, who is also Sarpanch.] There is no sewage line, so most of the money we get under the government’s house construction scheme is used for septic tanks.” Other residents also complain that such little development as has happened has all been in Ward 1, which Ms. Raut represents.
Manohar Waghmare, a carpenter, says power cuts happen every day. “During the rains, the road in front of my house becomes a pond. It’s difficult to even move out of the house. The only development is a water purification plant. This village desperately needs proper sewage lines. The chief minister visited only once, for a road inauguration, but he did not come inside the village. His wife visited a few times but she never came to our area. She visits the gram panchayat building and goes back.”
Gram panchayat member Vakil Dongre says that Ms. Fadnavis’s visits aren’t much help. “She comes to the gram panchayat and a lot of our funds go into hosting those meetings. It would be better if those funds are used for development.” Have there been no positives since the adoption? “The only good thing that happened was that every house got a toilet.”
Those who farm for a living are unhappy too. Ravindra Kumbhalkar and Vasant Pawar (who is a former former gram panchayat member) who farm their own land, and Ravindra Choudhary, who leases land to farm, all spoke of unfeasible farming expenses and the increasing cost of labour. Most farmers in the village, they say, find it more viable to lease their out farmland to others. But Namdev Ajebele, who has leased land from a farmer to grow vegetables, wheat and cotton, says that he loses ₹40,000 on every ₹1 lakh he invests.
Mr. Meghe, the local BJP MLA, conceded that the CM has visited only once since the adoption. “But his wife has visited around six times. The CM said he will come for the mega inauguration when all work is completed.” Mr. Meghe handed over a list of development work already done in the village, saying, “The work is happening in phases. The water problems will be sorted out in next two to three months, as a new water scheme is coming. I am hearing about the drainage problem for the first time.”
According to Mr. Meghe’s list, ₹13 lakh was spent on water supply, ₹5 lakh for water purification, ₹25 lakh on internal roads (villagers say that the roads in the Sarpanch’s ward were reconstructed twice). Then there is CSR funding from MOIL (a mining company): ₹10 lakh on road construction, ₹9 lakh for ‘saving greenery', ₹20 lakh for roads and drainage lines within the village. From the CM’s Fund, ₹2 crore for a main road outside the village, ₹6.50 crore for an electric substation and ₹1.10 crore for a veterinary hospital (both still to come), ₹1.10 crore under the national drinking water scheme, ₹51 lakh for a cultural centre building (still to be constructed), 87 lakhs for ZP schools (unutilised), ₹25 lakh for an Anganwadi (GP members say there was already one in the village),₹12 lakh for a GP building (complete), ₹10 lakh for a graveyard wall (complete), ₹16 lakh for Jalyukut Shivar (complete),₹17 lakh for two waste collection vehicles (complete), ₹22 lakh for Dalit Wasti Sudhar Yojana (no work visible in the Dalit locality).
When The Hindu contacted Amruta Fadnavis, she said that development has started, “The work on the water supply scheme (₹1.15crore) is going on. For drainage, ₹18 lakh was granted, which was insufficient, so some areas are remaining. The STP plant is not feasible, hence the Nagpur Improvement Trust chairman will be diverting funds for drainage.” Ms. Fadnavis also said that the ZP CEO and NIT chairman (both IAS officers) would be visiting the village soon.
She rejected accusations that development had only happened in the BJP member’s ward: “All developmental works are for all people and not for any specific ward." She said that these allegations were because there will be gram panchayat elections in Fetri in four months. On her own role, she said, “I am doing it as a volunteer. I have never claimed that everything has changed because change is always gradual. I see the glass half-filled; you may see the same glass half-empty. You may meet people who see no development I meet lots of people who are happy with the development. I will continue my work without getting disheartened.”
When this reporter visited the sprawling bungalow of Fetri’s Sarpanch, Jyoti Raut, to get her reactions to the villagers’ complaints, she remained silent through the meeting. Instead, Bhimrao Raut, her husband — and who was himself Sarpanch ten years ago — answered most of the questions, often speaking as it is him who is the real power. It is worth noting here that as per the rotating reservation policy, Fetri’s Sarpanch currently must be a woman, and it seems fair to conclude that Ms. Raut is a proxy for her husband.
Mr. Raut claimed that the 50 houses on the outskirts with no electricity and water supply — where Yadav Dhone lives — were an “illegal settlement. But we” — he uses the first person plural — “will legalise it soon and provide water and electricity connections.”
For the water supply and sewage problems, he blames Fetri’s last two sarpanches, who were from the Congress and the NCP, but says things will improve now.
“The work is in progress for the sewage lines. There was a time when the village faced load-shedding for 12 hours, but now electricity is regular; power cuts happen only during the heavy rains and hailstorms now, and then only for a few hours. Our water supply comes from Gorewada Lake. Even Nagpur faces water shortage; how will our village get full-time water?”
On the other promised-but-yet-to-fructify development, he says, “The chief minister had said that the village will not be given any extra funds except for the road. But I have managed to bring a lot of funds and development is on.”
His wife still silent, Mr. Raut concludes with a witticism, “What will the next Sarpanch do if we do all the development in the village?"
