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Hosts await Chief Minister’s visit to Suramuttina Tanda in Bijapur

Staff Correspondent

Kumaraswamy will stay overnight at Maruti Vithoba Rathod’s house

For a special guest: Maruti Vithoba Rathod outside his house at Suramuttina Tanda. Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy is scheduled to stay with them on June 23.

SURAMUTTINA TANDA (BIJAPUR DISTRICT): Maruti Vithoba Rathod and his wife Chandnibai did not take it seriously when they were told that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy would be visiting their village on June 23 an would stay overnight in their house. They neither knew Mr. Kumaraswamy nor had heard of his village stay programme. The village leaders had to convince them that the Chief Minister would in fact be staying at their house, Mr. Rathod said.

The middle-aged couple have five children including four daughters, two of whom are married. Only their son Ashok has gone to school. Though the Rathods have some land, it is not cultivable and they were forced to depend on agriculture labour. Their hand-to-mouth existence did not allow them to realise their dream of having a “pukka” house. For decades, they have been living in a small thatched hut, the front-door of which is only four-foot high.

Asked whether he would seek any favours from the Chief Minister, Mr. Rathod asked how he could ask something from a guest. “In fact, we are anxious about how to treat him. We don’t know whether he would like it here or not,” Mr. Rathod said. The Rathods want to petition Chief Minister seeking a grant for a house and for medical treatment during a “Janata darshan” programme to be held at Jigajinagi on Sunday.

However, according to sources, their present house would be upgraded in two days. The thatched roof would be replaced with a tin sheet, and height of the walls would also be enhanced.

The condition of their fellow villagers is no better. Except two or three families, most are agriculture labourers, who migrate to Maharashtra and Goa for work. Many houses remain locked in this Lambani habitation of around 100 families, close to the border with Maharashtra.

For decades, people here lived without basic amenities including drinking water. A private school till fourth standard existed but hardly functioned for want of teachers. It forced the parents to send their wards to either to Jigajinagi, under which gram panchayat the tanda falls, or Umadi in Maharashtra. “I’d rather not talk about the medical facilities,” Bilasingh Jadav, a villager, said.

However, there has been a sudden spurt in development activities since last three days. A four-km bullock-cart road connecting Jigajinagi is being widened and ballasts are being laid to make it motorable. A medical check-up camp was held here on Tuesday. “Such activities should continue even after the Chief Minister’s visit,” Shankar Chavan, Jigajinagi Gram Panchayat member representing the tanda, said.

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