Kamal Nath (Congress)
Won from Chhindwara: Four successive elections, beginning 1980. In 1996, his wife won the seat. Kamal Nath won in 1998 and 1999.
Votes for Kamal Nath: 63.98 per cent (last elections)
- 70 per cent of the villages don’t have pucca roads. Road area per 100 sq km is 17.3 sq km.
- No electricity, safe drinking water, toilet facilities for over 18 per cent of households
- None of the villages have hospitals
Only 4 per cent of the villages in Bicchua block are connected with all-weather roads. In Harrai block, it’s 7 per cent; in Amarwara, 8.
A 10-km trek on foot is the only way to reach village Almod, about 42 km from the district headquarters. It has no medical facilities and acute water shortage. "Handpumps dry up by April and after that, till the rains come, hunting for water is our primary occupation," says Kaliram Suryavanshi. Residents of Kikar village use water from a nearby nullah for drinking purposes. In Temru, the only well has been closed. "It needs to be deepened, but no one listens," says Kranti Bai. The perpetual water scarcity is attributed to the thinning forest cover. Dense forests cover almost 38 per cent of the district’s area, but the contractor-forester mafia nexus has been working overtime, converting trees into timber.
Jugan Irphache of Dasuawani complains that he got only Rs 14,000 of the Rs 25,000 promised under a rural housing scheme: "The rest of the money was gobbled up on the way." As for Kamal Nath, the residents of Dasuawani have never seen him in person. "He comes to the people only at the time of elections," says Kaliram.
