By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, May 4 (IANS): This is the story of Sanodiya village in Phulera Tehsil where living has become a part of the villagers' daily struggle.
Two Olympians, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore of the BJP and sitting Congress MLA Krishna Punia, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha constituency which includes the Sanodiya village. The seat goes to the polls in the fifth phase on May 6.
While the contestants come and go seeking votes for their respective parties, the residents of Sanodiya have decided to vote for the person who would set up a permanent bus stop in the village.
"Any candidate who can stop the buses passing through our village roads will get our votes. Many buses pass through our village, but none of them stops here. The villagers have to travel many kilometres to reach their work stations," said Jugal Kishore, a resident of Sanodiya.
And it is not just the bus stop that the villagers are demanding, as there are many other issues which have turned their daily lives into a constant battle.
"We are faced with loads of challenges for our day-to-day survival in the village. In the morning, we need to fetch water for our daily needs. But as the groundwater has almost dried up here, we have one tap supplying water to 50 houses. Surprisingly, the water supply from this tap is limited to 60 minutes, which is insufficient to meet the needs of all the families," said Bansilal Kumawat, a resident of the village.
The Phulera Tehsil is famous for Sambhar Lake, India's largest inland salt lake which is also a major tourist destination in the region. Many people from the Sanodiya village work at this lake site.
"Since the buses don't stop at our village for decades now, we have to walk a few kilometres to reach our work stations, braving the sun, rain and cold.
"We have grown up seeing buses plying down our village roads, but they never stop here. We have seen hell in all these years. From patients, workers, school children to college students -- everybody faces this problem. Hence we have decided to vote for the person who will set up a bus stop in the village," said Jugal Kishore while pointing at a bus smoothly passing down the road in front of his shop.
Spread over 920.79 hectares, Sinodiya has about 229 houses. Located just 60 km away from Jaipur, the village houses around 2,000 people with a majority Gujjar population.
The village voted for the Congress in the 2018 Assembly elections, hoping that the plight of the people would be heard, especially with the projection of Sachin Pilot, a leader from their community, as the next Chief Minister.
However, their hopes were nipped in the bud as Ashok Gehlot was made the Chief Minister after the Congress formed the government in the state. Hence this time some villagers are planning to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
During the earlier Congress tenure, we had seen our wells being auctioned as loans of Vikas Bhumi Bank could not be returned. We don't want to repeat the same mistake. The Congress promised farm loan waiver, but it never said that loans of nationalised banks will not be waived," said Kumawat.
"We voted for the party (Congress) with high hopes but now we feel cheated. Neither did we get the Chief Minister we were promised, nor the promises made before the Assembly polls have been fulfilled. Now we only look forward to having a bus stop in the village," he added.