Rich in history, poor in infrastructure, Shekhawati battles basic woes

Animesh Singh

Sikar/Fatehpur, November 18

Even as Assembly elections are just a week away in Rajasthan, people in the historical Shekhawati region grapple with some of the basic issues like water scarcity, poor roads and power cuts, which ironically take a back seat at a time when they should be top priority for political leaders.

Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Neem Ka Thana are the three districts which form the Shekhawati region, which has had a rich history of Kachchwaha Rajput rulers.

Fatehpur is a small dusty town in Sikar district of Rajasthan, which is riddled with potholed roads, a run down bus depot and erratic power supply. A young man in his 20s, Maharia has studied from Fatehpur itself but complains that there are not adequate colleges in the town and people have to either go to Sikar or Churu to study.

Another resident of the region, Savita Barala, a working woman, also echoed the same sentiments, pointing out that water has a lot of contamination, with several areas getting water with fluoride content. Residents though add that with the construction of a dam in the area, improved water supply and greater availability is expected.

The leakage of REET papers in 2021 and 2022 has also given the opposition BJP a lot of gunpowder for the forthcoming elections.

Sikar district was one which had witnessed a complete wipe out of BJP in the 2018 Assembly elections in Rajasthan. Govind Singh Dotasra, a three-time MLA, is pitted against former Union minister Subhash Maharia of the BJP in Lachhmangarh. Maharia, a three-term Lok Sabha MP from Sikar, had joined the Congress in 2016 but returned to BJP in May this year.

The contest in Fatehpur constituency, another Congress stronghold, is a triangular one with the entry of Jannayak Janta Party’s Nand Kishore Maharia. Congress’ Hakim Ali Khan had won narrowly in 2018 by 850 votes.