Devaltand: Journey from historical to hysterical

Mail News Service

Saraikela, Sept 21: Devaltand, a languishing village in Saraikela Kharsawan skims the Ranchi district border. The Geological Survey of India had, ages ago, proposed Devaltand as a national heritage. The famous, centuries old Bhagwan Adinath Jain Mandir today is a mute testimony to the pain of Devaltand  villagers who continue to suffer as they limp along an almost nonexistent road that takes them across from history to the point of hysteria – from a sunlit path of cherished hope to the ignominy of darkness without end. The tendency to grow philosophical takes a jolt as the mind thuds down on the potholes of putrid reality spelled Devaltand, a hamlet sans Deva; a hamlet that houses the in-laws home of undivided Bihar’s former Chief Minister and Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur’s daughter. A pity that scalds the still-human soul is the fact that amidst all the boasts of scientific and supersonic development, the acrid stench of the Dark Ages prevails in Devaltand, a village far removed from the realms of human concern.

There are many more avenues of bleak realities that Devaltand villagers continue to remain resigned to. The deeper one goes into the fathomless dungeon of misery that Devaltand denizens grope in,  one realizes that the situation is worse than the worst nightmare.

Devaltand, in spite of its hopeless plight, is laden with prospects of being converted into a tourist spot especially, if not for anything else, but for the timeless Bhagwan Adinath Jain Mandir which the Geological Survey of India tagged as a national heritage. Unfortunately, the villagers of this thus-far-discarded  Devaltand are unaware of the heritage or its legacy. In fact they are unaware of all the developments the scientific age has been rolling out.

Devaltand has had a positive impact as per the government record books. Government officials, educationists and social activists have vouched of this village’s contribution that could have made it a focus point in the state; yet, it remains consigned to miserable human conditions that modern man is either unaware of like the villagers themselves or prefer to look away. This is the plight that Devaltand suffers.

More than a decade ago, a connecting road between Devaltand and the main road was laid under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna and the trademark of development commenced and ended at that point. Currently, the road is covered with wild shrubs and bushes. Yawning potholes with stagnant rainwater dissuade people from using this road. Visitors and residents are forced to park their vehicles on the roadside or in some nearby village and unwillingly trudge to Devaltand albeit over this path that is now reduced to a zigzag, treacherous strip of what once was a road gifted by the Prime Minister’s rural road development project. Instead, shrubs and potholes continue to be the fruits of the government’s benevolence. Vehicular traffic comes to a standstill on this excuse of a road for obvious reasons. In case of unavoidable reasons, villagers are forced to use this now blighted path at the risk of injury.

Local school teacher and social worker Kunal Das, in the course of his lament, stated, “Approximately, ten years ago, the stretch of road connecting Devaltand to the main road was constructed. But within a year of this road-laying the condition of this part of connectivity became such that it seemed this road had never existed. Wild shrubs and bushes have encroached most of this road. The wide and deep potholes become more menacing during the monsoons as they remain filled with rainwater. The transformation of this connecting road into virtual death and injury traps gives the feel that there is no human habitation beyond.  People of Devaltand and neighboring Jilingadar with a combined population of about 5,000, are frustrated with the condition of what used to be a road.”

Das said that the Devaltand and Jilingadar villagers took up this issue with the administrative departments and the legislators and parliamentarians personally and through the media but to no avail. He lamented, “In spite of these initiatives, neither government officials nor MPs and MLAs have taken cognizance of the villagers’ plight. The villagers’ knocks on the right doors were exercises in futility. Yet, they continue to hope against hope that their cause may be heard and… may be…executed.”

Meanwhile, the villagers are keeping their benumbed fingers crossed for that one Darshan of ‘Achchhey Din.’