Almost a year after security operations began on June 18, 2009 in what were Maoist-dominated areas of West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district, local officials say though several development projects have been initiated during the period the unrest has slackened the pace.
The priority has been to restore normality in the region, once out of bounds to the civil administration, to facilitate large-scale development there.
A significant development is reinstating the administrative machinery in the worst-affected blocks of Jhargram, Binpur I, Salboni, Goaltore and Midnapore Sadar, which were declared “liberated zones” by the Left-wing extremists a year ago and where most of the government offices remained closed for months.
Pointing out that the situation has improved compared to last year, district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam told The Hindu that “it [development], however, is yet to match with the other blocks in the region as people are still cynical due to regular bandhs [and] non-functional panchayats. And the fear factor still looms large.”
Job scheme
Over the year the district administration had taken positive steps towards implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in four blocks except Binpur I, and started projects on rural electrification, irrigation and forest development.
“But when there has been a near-total bandh for 200 days a year with no vehicles plying and no government office functioning; most of the bank branches are running out of money and cannot even pay MREGS wages. Farmers could not avail themselves of agricultural loans,” Mr. Nigam said.
On developing the irrigation sector, he said that even as the State government had sanctioned funds, contractors were not willing to work in a strife-torn region where the lives of labourers and the safety of their machinery would be at stake.
There was no incentive for the contractors to take the risk.
Electrification
The district administration, however, stepped up electrification of villages. Mr. Nigam said most of the villages were expected to be electrified by March 2011.
Another major improvement was enrolment of over two lakh people under the Below the Poverty Line category in the last one year and payment of old-age pensions, Mr. Nigam said.
“Though some people still remain outside the BPL ambit, we have asked everyone to enlist their names. A complete overhaul of ration cards has also been done.”
Admitting that there was shortage of seeds for distribution to marginal farmers and the prevalence of corruption while distributing the available seeds at the panchayat level, he said the issue could be solved only when officials regularly interacted with the farmers.
Mr. Nigam also acknowledged that the per capita income of the people in the region had not increased due to the ongoing unrest. “Until and unless an environment of security and peace is not brought back in the region, a healthy development pace could not be achieved anytime soon.”
