About a village i visited in 1999 just before loksabha polls

Too small to count yet it forms INDIA

MADHYA PRADESH: Bhopar in Panna district is just 450 km by road from
Bhopal, but several thousand kilometres away in terms of development. And
development is the issue raised by all political parties in successive
elections, only to forget it later.

BHOPAR VILLAGE; POPULATION: 500
CONSTITUENCY: DAMOH-PANNA
The villagers have to climb a 2,700 ft mountain (left) and trek 8 km
to sell the forest produce in Satna.

The twin village of Mehgavan-Bhopar is among the 57 outbacks on the
Shyamgiri range in the southeastern part of Panna, one of the most backward
districts in the state. It was only in 1992 that a school came up in this
village and the building lasted just five years! The hand-pumps installed
in this Rajgond-Yadav dominated area have never functioned properly.

The people's awareness about the elections is zero and they don't know who
Sonia Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee are. The area falls under Pawai
assembly segment of Damoh-Panna Lok Sabha seat. Sitting Samajwadi Party MLA
Ashok Vikram Singh alias Bhaiya Raja has represented the constituency twice
but has visited the area only once, that too in a chopper to celebrate New
Year's Eve. "That was the first time people saw bulbs aglow," said Singh.
The 57 villages in the ranges do not have power connection.

"The reason for the backwardness is the number of voters, which is only
5,500," said Singh. "Shyamgiri does not figure in political calculations."

BJP's sitting MP, Ramkrishna Kusmaria, has won the seat three times but has
visited the area only once, during the last elections. Shyamgiri does not
have even a proper health centre. The136 sq. km area is looked after by one
multi-purpose health worker.

The 51-km road to Shyamgiri from Pawai block, constructed by the miners,
can be used only in summer as one has to cross several small rivers without
bridges. "If you go there you will get stuck," warned the MLA.
The only other way is from the neighbouring Satna district, but then one
has to walk 8 km and climb a 2,700 ft mountain. The villagers have to carry
the sick several kilometres on cots for treatment. In most cases the
government doctors extract as much as Rs 50, much more than a villager's
daily earning, for treating a fever or a dysentery. The average life
expectancy is around 50 years. The main source of income is the money
generated from selling the forest produce.

"The politicians are to blame for the plight of the people," said social
worker Vir Singh Bundela, who has worked here for the last 30 years.
According to him votes are demanded on the same issues in successive
elections: water, road and hospital. Both Vikram Singh, SP's candidate for
the Lok Sabha seat, and Kusmaria say they have plans for Shyamgiri. While
Singh talks of a Rs 50-crore project proposal rejected by the Centre,
Kusmaria tom-toms the Rs 25 lakh he has spent on a bridge. The people, it
seems, have stopped believing them.