George Fernandes (JD-U)
Won from Nalanda: 1996, 1998, 1999
Votes for Fernandes: 53.29 per cent (last election)
- George has visited Nalanda about 10 times during his MPship. He’s been to Kargil at least 38 times.
- Tuberculosis is a serious threat for the 25,000 bidi workers here; but the hospital George inaugurated for them in January has no doctors, no beds, no equipment
- Roads virtually non-existent
At this ancient seat of learning, the site of history’s first international university, over 46 per cent of the populace today is illiterate.
In Chhajji mohallah, the entire population huddles near a huge garbage dump with leaf, tobacco, yarn and iron nails, rolling bidis, from dawn till nightfall, for a meagre Rs 34.65 per 1,000 bidis. TB is rampant among the over 25,000 bidi workers. "We are like skeletons...living dead," rues Qurban Ali. Says Nasim Ahmad: "George Fernandes is into doing big things; he has no concern for poor like us."
A 30-bed hospital for the ailing workers was inaugurated by the Union defence minister in January. Small catch: it has no doctors, equipment, medicines, beds.
In 1996, on the banks of Goethawa river at Bhatbigha, he had promised: "I’ll build a bridge here." He laid a brick and broke a coconut. Again, in 1998, he promised that bridge...and then again, in 1999. "Jaj saheb hasn’t been here since then," says Balmiki Prasad of Teliakhanda village. Without a bridge, it takes 50 km of journeying to reach Manpur and Tetrawan, though they are actually just 11 km away, across the river.
Roads in Nalanda are a poor joke. And while the defence minister’s dream project for Rajgir—India’s 40th ordnance factory at the cost of Rs 800 crore—was scheduled to be completed in 2004, only the administrative blocks are up.
No roads, no jobs, no electricity either. One million quintals of potato are grown here each season, but without power, the crop rots. "We run on generators," says cold storage owner Ajay Kumar, "but it costs more and farmers have to pay extra." Most cold storages have got their power lines disconnected and rely only on generators. "Why keep the connection and pay bills for nothing?" asks Kumar.
Kargil being George Fernandes’ favourite destination—he has made 38 sorties there, compared to only 10 to Nalanda—he has built a Shaheed-e-Kargil Memorial Park in Biharsharif. Nine months after inauguration, stray cattle graze here on the wreaths laid by the defence minister. The flowers never bloomed, and the fountain never worked.
