Dream road of mountain man uniting voters of Atari, Wakirganj

A 'pucca' road passing through the hillock has brought down the distance between Naxal-hit blocks of Gaya district by over 70 kms.

The dream road of 'Mountain Man' Dashrath Manjhi is finally uniting voters of Atari and Wajirganj, two Assembly constituencies in Gaya district of Magadh division with the 4.2 km link road between Gehlore and Amethi in its middle stage of construction under Chief Minister's Rural Road Plan.

Both the assembly segments go to polls on November 9. While RJD holds forte in Atari, Wajirganj is a new constituency after delimitation.NDA is pinning hopes on both the seats.

“Nitish Kumar honoured Baba Dashrath's wish. Moreover, Upper castes do not torment us now. The government has constructed pucca road right in front of our doors. We do not want things to go back to the old troubled days," says Ramdeep Manjhi of Singhoura village of Wajirganj.

Dashrath Manjhi had single handedly carved a 360-ft long, 25-ft high and 30-ft wide road by cutting a mountain for 22 years through hammers and chisels braving jeers of people. His feat reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district from 75 km to just one km, bringing him international acclaim.

The rare human enterprise he showed to ease the transportation woes of locals had a personal touch as well. His resolve to break the chest of the mountain started when his wife got injured while bringing water for him while he was working in a field on the other side of the mountain. That was in the sixties when Manjhi was a brash young man.

His wife died a few years later but Manjhi did not forget his silent commitment. After breaking the hill, Manjhi was running from pillar to post to get a link road constructed for the last two decades. He was given land away from his home by Lalu Prasad led RJD government.

Though the man who moved mountains could not move politicians in his life, his superhuman efforts finally saw the light of the day when the state government began road construction this year.

Manjhi had died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi last year while undergoing treatment for cancer of the gall bladder. In the ten assembly segments of Gaya, the Scheduled Castes constitute around 30 percent of the total population while three Assembly segments Bodhgaya, Barachatti and Imamganj are reserved. Mushars are in sizeable number in these constituencies as they are in Wajirganj and Atari.

Wajirganj is a new constituency where the contest appears to be between Congress’ Avdhesh Kumar Singh, who had been MLA from the adjoining Mufassil seat, which has lost its existence in delimitation and BJP’s Veerendra Singh, who had so far been contesting from Atari constituency.

Senior Congress leader Avdhesh Kumar Singh faces a tough challenge as BJP stronghold Manpur area, which was earlier part of Gaya Town constituency, has now been merged with Wajirganj.

BSP's Ramchandra Yadav could emerge as third angle of the contest. RJD has fielded Rajesh Kumar, while Congress has fielded local Ashwini Kumar Singh. A total of 18 candidates are in fray from the constituency.

In Atari assembly seat, RJD has fielded its sitting MLA Kunti Singh, wife of the local strongman Rajendra Yadav who represented the seat before his wife. RJD has been winning this Yadav dominated seat for the last two decades.

JD-U has fielded local candidate Krishnanandan Yadav. After the delimitation, 16 panchayats from Khijarsarai area of which eight is with RJD and Congress have been merged in Atari. BSP has fielded Shivshankar Kushwaha from Koiri community, which have been traditional rivals of Yadavs in the Magadh division.