Only boars break Chambal peace now; polling smooth

Till as recently as the 2004 election, dacoits would issue farmans (diktats), asking voters to vote for a party or candidate

April 25, 2014 12:01 am | Updated May 21, 2016 01:11 pm IST - Chambal:

The small Durga temple, with its intricate pink walls and saffron dome, stands out against the maze of undulating ravines and dense bushes at Gaati. Few people are around, except for four young boys playing hide and seek.

Located in the heart of the Chambal valley in Etawah district, the temple was built by the dreaded dacoit Malkhan Singh at a cost of Rs. 22,000 before he surrendered in 1982. It was common for dacoits to seek protection in Durga.

For years, till the late 1990s, the topography of Chambal provided cover for numerous dacoit gangs, who engaged in rampant kidnapping and murders. However, Malkhan stood out for his good nature, says Mohan Bhadoria, a farmer who had close relations with the dacoit.

“He would get poor girls married and was a spiritual person. He never harassed the poor,” Mr. Bhadoria says.

Malkhan today lives an ordinary life across the border in Gwalior, the temple his only legacy in the area.

The other dreaded dacoits, who either surrendered or were killed, only live in the public memory of Chambal.

At Gaati, one of the 40 super-sensitive polling booths in the Udi-Chakernagar stretch in the Chambal area of the Etawah constituency, polling was peaceful on Thursday. A big leap from the past.

Till as recently as the 2004 election, dacoits would issue farmans (diktats), asking voters to vote for a party or candidate. Today, Chambal has no dacoits and their farmans are only a matter of folklore.

Mahesh Yadav, a traditional voter of the Samajwadi Party, says Mulayam Singh played a key role in wiping out the dacoit menace.

Mr. Mahesh was one of the unlucky few who fell victim to the “Aprahan Udyog” (abduction business) that was rampant in the ravines till the 2000s. The gang of Lovely Pandey, who was later killed by the police, abducted him on September 17, 2004, in the Balpura block and kept him hostage for eight days. As other hostages, he was made to serve the dacoits, by gathering wood and cooking food. “Anyone who did the cooking was severely beaten up if smoke emanated from the hiding spot, as it would give away the cover,” says Mr. Mahesh, who runs a beer shop in his village, Rami Kawar.

“It was difficult to venture out during the day, forget night. The then SSP Daljit Singh cleaned up the area of the dacoits. Today we live a free life,” he says.

Tourism development led by the Samajwadi Party government has further played a part in curbing the activity of dacoits in the Chambal region of Uttar Pradesh. However, while the dacoits are long gone, the residents of Chambal are today faced with another problem: wild boars.

The wild animals raid fields, destroying crops, and sometimes even attack humans. “Dacoits didn’t scare us the way these boars do,” says Dileep Singh Baghel, a sweet-shop owner whose father, Maharaj Singh, was seriously injured in a wild boar attack last year.

To keep a check on the marauding animals, the people keep vigil on machans in the fields at night, when the boars are most lethal. But after a series of attacks on these “watchmen,” few dare to venture out alone into the ravines or the fields.

The people also employed hunters of the Kanjar caste to drive away the animals with firecrackers, but even that has not been successful. Just a few months ago, a hunter’s stomach was ripped apart by the wild boars, killing him on the spot. Out of frustration, the people sometimes hunt the boars illegally. But they demand that they be issued private licences to hunt the straying boars.

“At least they should build an enclosure. How else will we protect ourselves,” asks Krishna Kumar Bhadoria, a farmer. The administration says it is helpless since the area falls under the Chambal Sanctuary, under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department. When the matter was pointed out to district and forest officials, they said they had not received a formal complaint, but would look into the matter.

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