By Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi, IANS
Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh) : More than 200 factories in Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi constituency have closed down over the years, trade unions say, a testimony to its neglect by successive administrations in Uttar Pradesh for the last two decades.
The issue of Amethi’s development, or the lack of it, came to the fore following the suspension of four officials by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for praising Rahul Gandhi’s “developmental work”.
The book, “Sultanpur: Kal aur Aaj”, released last week, angered the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government. All four officials had contributed to the book. They included Faizabad divisional commissioner L. Venkateshwarlu and Sultanpur district magistrate Sanjay Kumar, both IAS officers.
Although no one doubts the sincerity of these officers, the ground reality in Amethi is not as bright as the book would have us believe.
With infrastructure in the constituency in a poor shape, Amethi clearly has no godfather now in Lucknow, with the Congress out of power in the state for the last 18 years. Uttar Pradesh’s ruling parties of the past two decades are being blamed for the ills of Amethi.
It wasn’t always like this.
A long time ago, Rahul’s late uncle Sanjay Gandhi developed Jagdishpur, a small town in the constituency, as an industrial hub. Once Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul’s father, got elected from Amethi, he nurtured Jagdishpur further.
With incentives like cheap industrial plots, many industrialists queued up to set up factories here. A trade union leader said more than 280 industrial units came up in the area. Now only around 35 remain in business.
Runicha Textiles is symptomatic of what has gone wrong in Jagdishpur. The factory, originally named Amethi Textiles, has changed hands thrice since it was established in 1990, with some help from Rajiv Gandhi.
A New Delhi-based industrialist bought the factory, which boasts of machines imported from Switzerland, in 1995. However, it closed down in December 1996 due to, among other things, shortage of raw materials.
Its employees were paid salaries till July 1997 but were then left to fend for themselves. In 2000, it was started again under the new name with the Industrial Development Bank of India’s help – only to stop work in February 2004.
“We have a lot of hope from Rahul Gandhi. I met (Congress president) Soniaji once and told her about our problems,” Mangal Dev Pandey, general secretary of the textile unit’s trade union, told IANS.
“Rahul visited the factory after winning the election in 2004 and promised to help. But nothing has happened since,” he added.
There are still 350 workers hopeful of getting their jobs back if the factory restarts production.
While many industrialists opened shop in Jagdishpur – some to benefit from sops and some to get close to Sanjay Gandhi and then Rajiv Gandhi, they fled when these factories became a liability due to the lack of raw materials as well as a viable market for their products in the region.
“The party in power in Uttar Pradesh has given step-brotherly treatment to Amethi. This is the reason for the state of affairs,” complained Akhilesh Pratap Singh, the state Congress spokesperson.
Infrastructure facilities in the constituency have deteriorated. Alhough Jagdishpur has good roads, its neighbouring areas like Gauriganj and Tiloi that fall within the constituency suffer from frequent power shutdowns, atrociously poor roads, shortage of drinking water and negligible health facilities.
Jagdishpur legislator Ram Sewak, who has won eight times from the constituency on Congress ticket, argued: “Only the Gandhi family can help restart these factories. I wish the factories start functioning.”
Firms like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Indo-Gulf Fertilizers had opened units here. Malvika Steel had set up the biggest factory in the area that was closed four years ago.
Quality Packaging had opened a factory. There was a unit manufacturing parts for Maruti cars, and there were also two cement factories among a host of others.
Now only a few remain functional.
Rahul Gandhi laid the foundation stone for an ordnance factory in the region in December 2007. While the local people are happy with the move, they feel this is not a lasting solution.
“Opening new factories will not solve our problems. The old ones should be restarted first,” reasons Ram Khilawan, a pan shop owner.