Achi news desk-
Araria3 minutes ago
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Araria Lok Sabha seat of Seemanchal, Bihar has been ruled by BJP for a long time. Candidate Pradeep Kumar Singh is trying to become an MP for the third time. Whereas Shahnawaz Alam is RJD’s candidate from India. Every effort is being made by both parties to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
As part of the election fight for this seat, BJP and its candidates are seeking votes in the name of Hindutva, casteism, Ram Mandir and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Elections are held everywhere in this name. On the other hand, RJD and its candidate Shahnawaz Alam are trying to win the elections on the basis of the Muslim-Yadav (MY) equation. But, only the local issue of Araria is missing in their election fight. The people of the area are also talking about it.
Voting will be held here on May 7 as part of the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Read this report outlining the issues and ground conditions here…
Straight racism
Amit Kumar Aman is a senior local journalist. He knows Araria district and the entire parliamentary constituency for a long time. According to them there are four big problems here. Floods, smuggling counterfeit notes, unemployment and a poor health system. No party made a problem on its behalf.
This parliamentary constituency is dominated by Muslims and extremely backward people. Here RJD fielded Muslim candidate Shahnawaz Alam. For this reason his focus is only on my equation. Whereas BJP is trying to break it. The BJP candidate, Pradeep Kumar Singh, is a backward caste and he hails from the Gangai caste. His caste voters are only between 20 and 21 thousand.
4 big problems of Araria
1. The biggest problem is flooding
During the ground reporting, in conversations with people from different regions and senior journalist Amit Komar Aman, it became clear that Araria’s biggest problem is flooding. Because the increased water level of rainy rivers here causes such destruction that it takes a long time for the affected people to recover from it. They have to leave their homes and take shelter on the national highway and other places. In fact, 12 small rivers including Parman, Bakra, Kankai, Gagi, Nona, Barjan, Lohandra, Bhalwa, originate in Nepal and pass through different parts of Araria.
Amit says that the Ferman River passes through the city of Araria. Every year from July to September the water level of these rivers rises greatly. These rivers bring such floods that they cause destruction within 8 to 10 days. In the 2017 flood, bridges and roads worth about 400 million rupees were destroyed.
2. Counterfeit note business
The second big problem in Arria is fake notes. This area is completely adjacent to Nepal. Comments from both countries come and go in the border area. Fake Indian currency notes of Rs 200-500 are widely distributed in the areas near the international border. Experts say that counterfeit notes are smuggled and smugglers bring them through Nepal. Due to the presence of large-scale counterfeit notes, the Government of Nepal has banned 200 and 500 Indian currency. Many areas of Araria including Basmatia, Ghurna, Lailokhar are affected due to fake notes.
3. Immigration due to unemployment
Araria’s third main problem is unemployment. There is no big company and no big factory. There is no central source of employment here. For this reason the number of people from the working class is high. People from the area should go out to look for work. Especially people from the minority community go out to look for work on a large scale. Surdam Starch Factory was built in Forbesange. Then there was a shootout. But even after that the factory was built. But it hasn’t started yet. If it had started on time, a thousand people would have received employment there. But it didn’t happen.
Apart from that, no other company has reached this area. People here work a lot in Delhi, Ludhiana, Mumbai. Especially most in Punjab. Because the salary is the highest there. Seemanchal Express from Jogbani to Anand Vihar Terminal is the biggest example to see people migrating in search of work.
Immigration is a big problem here because of unemployment.
4. There is no big hospital
On May 2, BJP national president JP Nadda reached Sikti Bararia. Addressing a public meeting, he said that 8 new medical colleges are being built in Bihar. One such was built in Aria. The people of Araria have been waiting for him for the past many years. Because, there is no great order here in the field of health. There is no big hospital and no government medical college.
There is also a huge shortage of doctors here. When people fall ill, they have to go to Purnia, 45 km away, or Siliguri, West Bengal, 170 km away, for treatment. However, the government moved the proposal to build a medical college at Rampur Kudra in Araria. The ground for this was also identified three years ago. But, the work has not started till today.
A flood is an opportunity in disaster for politicians and contractors
LP Nayak is also a senior journalist and Araria’s advocate. We also spoke to him as an expert. Also according to them, Araria’s biggest problem is flooding. Every year 2 lakh people are injured. People’s houses are destroyed. Farmers’ crops are destroyed. This problem has become permanent. Every year a road is built here and destroyed due to floods. It happened many times in rural areas that roads damaged by floods were not rebuilt for 3-4 years.
According to them, a permanent solution to prevent flooding has not yet been made. For leaders and contractors, this disaster has become an opportunity. However, for rescue at the national level, the central government has prepared the Maitri Linkage Scheme with Nepal. Work on it will likely begin next year. As part of this plan, a dam will be built on a very large scale. Due to this Araria will benefit as well as Kishanganj and Katihar. But at the moment there is no solution.
A person will believe in Ram only if he remains alive.
At Chandni Chowk in Aria we met Mohd. Find Akram. Who is the resident of the village of Lahana Rampur, 14 kilometers from Arya. According to them, no one is satisfied with the central government. The salary received 10 years ago is still the same. But inflation has gone up a lot. Older people have no problem with it. They eat comfortably. But, poor class people are worried. We will vote to replace this government. This is why we see employment as more important than Ram temple. Because, a person will believe in the temple only if he remains alive.
The candidate has not changed, hence Modi will lose the seat
Avinesh Kumar Pappu says we will go early morning to vote on 7th May. BJP has not changed its candidate here. Whereas, he should have made someone else the candidate instead of Pradeep Kumar Singh. Due to this, Narendra Modi may lose Araria seat. Only one person was a member of parliament for a long time. He had to change it. He didn’t even do any development work. That’s why we want to change the member of parliament.
Mohd., who is engaged in the watermelon business. Aslam directly says that there was a problem due to encroachment of Chandni Chowk. Due to the strictness of the district administration, he was unable to manage his business properly. He then approached MP Pradeep Kumar Sinha for help. But he didn’t help. Then he went to Shahnawaz Alam. Then he helped by talking to the DM. So the signal is clear who they will vote for.
will vote considering the problem
Mo. Abbas is a resident of ward number 11. They say that when the Ferman River floods, the whole area is submerged. People leave their homes and go to the national road. To date no leader or MP has worked on this issue. This time, we will vote in the elections considering our problems. This is a big problem for us.
In the last 30 years, the one and a half kilometer road leading from the main road to the Araria court station has been in bad shape. There is resentment among motorists and local people regarding this. Auto Driver Mohd. Sadiq Alam, Amar Kumar, Mohd. Maner Alam and Harjit Kumar Mandal say we will vote in the name of development. Because people vote in the name of the caste and after that they do no work. Everyone is watching the circumstances here.
