The road to Siyaljori is surprisingly smooth, rising and dipping gently like a roller coaster in slow motion. It is remarkable. For, this 27km stretch from Bokaro didn't even have a pathway a year and a half back. Now, thanks to a Rs 12,000-crore steel plant rolling out pipes and billets at around 60 per cent of its 2.5MTPA capacity, the established PSU town is building ties with a hitherto forgotten village that is on the cusp of carving a place for itself on the chequered industrial map of Jharkhand.
If Bokaro is the old steel town teeming with bright young minds, thanks to the over 50 schools that are a toast of the region, Electrosteel Steel Ltd, or ESL, is trying to prove that in a state where nothing works - save the 50-odd largely unproductive core sector MoUs that were signed by the former Arjun Munda-led BJP-JMM government - a small steel plant can change the lives of Siyaljori's people.
Prove? Why the need for affirmation when Bokaro Steel and Tata Steel have shown the way?
"The noise of too many naysayers has drowned the voice of reason," laments Rama Shankar Singh, director-in-charge of ESL, set up in end-2012 at Siyaljori in Chandankyari block, hemmed in by Purulia (Bengal) in the east, Dhanbad in the north and Bokaro in the south.
Singh is referring to the intermittent periods of local unrest over land acquisition and, what he describes as, "perceived" injustices meted out to those who sold plots for the plant. Last year in September, around 5,000 people led by an MLA, laid siege to the plant and held a workforce of around 1,100 hostage. The two-day blockade was lifted only after the intervention of chief minister Hemant Soren.
"Why is there an environment of suspicion around private enterprises when we know that its success can bring about far-reaching changes in people's lives?" he asks in dismay.
ESL, which contracted two Chinese firms to build the plant, dealt with over 4,600 local families while acquiring land. Yet, Singh points out that there isn't a single civil dispute that has been raised. It is clear who the "naysayers" are in Singh's book. He doesn't bother to mention the key characters in the story of Jharkhand's fragmented politics, but goes on to explain the immediate benefits accrued to local communities. Around 8,000 people work at the plant of which a good number is from the locality.
The giveaway is when Singh declares that political stability is what he is hoping for after these Assembly elections.
Umakant Rajak, the sitting Ajsu MLA who is contesting from Chandankyari as an NDA candidate, has this to say: "It is unfair to blame politicians alone. We interfere only when villagers come to us and complain. I am all for a congenial industrial atmosphere."
Promises come easily to politicians. More so during elections. So when BJP's Viranchi Narain talks of a "better Bokaro, greater Bokaro", referring to longstanding concerns over the city's civic infrastructure and Bokaro Steel's expansion, he is unwittingly compromising his own party's chances.
For, flamboyant BJP rebel Samresh Singh, a household name well known for ripping his kurta in a show of outrage at the slightest provocation, has been the steel city's MLA for five terms. This time, however, the BJP denied Samresh a ticket, prompting him to join the fray as an Independent.
So, when Viranchi claims "nothing has been done in Bokaro for decades", he is pointing to the ineffectiveness of the BJP's own MLA for decades.
Amid the slanging match Bokaro's prime concern is forgotten.
"We must remember that Bokaro city was built from scratch. Just as the steel plant is the core, we have developed a fine city that offers, among other things, quality education for children," says Hemlata S. Mohan, director and principal of Delhi Public School, one of the most sought-after destinations of parents from across the region.
Mohan, a former chairperson of the state women's commission, believes - as do most right-thinking individuals - that Bokaro desperately needs good colleges, engineering and medical, to supplement the efforts of its schools that send around 350 students to various IITs from an average annual pool of around 12,000 who complete plus two.
Chinmaya School principal Ashok Singh agrees and blames successive people's representatives for ignoring this vital need.
It is a need that is understood by politicians. Yet, none has taken it seriously even though most claim they do during elections.
Mohan knows. For, she contested, and lost, parliamentary elections from Dhanbad in May after being convinced by former deputy chief minister, Sudesh Mahto, that his Ajsu was the right platform for her.
Today, she is even more determined. "I will do whatever it takes to ensure Bokaro gets its due," she says, referring to the need for institutes of higher education that will prevent her students from leaving Jharkhand to study elsewhere.
Till such time Mohan is able to break the jinx, she has to stay content with upgrading her own school - post the commissioning of a state-of-the-art swimming pool that filters and recycles water, she is building a farm, that will host a vermicompost pit and a cow, to teach students nuances of organic farming.
It's Friday, the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of elections. In Bokaro, candidates are on their final campaign lap in jeeps bedecked with green and saffron party flags.
At Siyaljori, workers are busy at the hot metal plant. They will soon break for lunch.
ESL's Singh has the last word. "When this steel plant is able to function full-scale, we can contribute not less than Rs 2,000 crore to the government in terms of taxes. Imagine what all can be done for the area with all that money."
Imagine...
The sky is cloudy, the sun mild. A cold breeze blows across Siyaljori.
Bokaro, Chandankyari vote today.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/