Naveen faces migration issues in Hinjili and Kantabanji seats

Hinjili/Kantabanji : Located at a distance of about 350 km from each other, Hinjili and Kantabanji Assembly constituencies share two commonalities – both hold migration as the key issue and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as the BJD candidate.

Though local voters talk about infrastructure development, lack of job opportunities plagues the two rural constituencies for several years. There is no official data on the number of migration from these two places. Unofficial estimates say more than a lakh people have left their homes in Hinjili and Kantabanji in search of jobs in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and other States. While Kantabanji is in the western region of Odisha, Hinjili is in the southern part of the State.

However, the ruling BJD claimed that the rate of migration has drastically come down in Odisha. These migrant workers are now in high demand as political parties bring them back to their homes to cast votes in the Odisha elections. “We had to return from Surat in Gujarat to cast votes in Hinjili as our family lives here. Unless we cast our votes, the local Sarpanch may deny us free rice or other such benefits being availed from the government,” said Santosh Gouda (35), a migrant worker.

Similar is the story of other migrant workers. Each migrant worker is paid train fare and meal allowance of Rs 500 to return to the village and cast votes, Gouda said, adding that all parties, including BJD, BJP and Congress adopt this approach to raise their vote share in the elections.

Naveen has been elected from Hinjili Assembly segment since 2000.

“It is our pride that our MLA is the Odisha Chief Minister. During the 24 years, he has improved certain infrastructure but has not solved the basic problem of migration. Had there been sufficient work here, why should our husband, brother and son go to another State in search of jobs,” said Bilasini Behera, of Sheragada area under Hinjili Assembly segment.

During Naveen’s tenure, Hinjili, a small rural pocket, has become a municipality. Now it has sub-divisional hospital, rural industrial park, skill development centre, fire stations, Harabhangi irrigation project, drinking water supply for every household but migration is still a problem.

However, despite infrastructure development, Hinjili has its problems. Large-scale migration and lack of cold storage for farmers are some of the problems in the segment. Hinjili is basically an agrarian economy where its residents mostly undertake vegetable cultivation. But, they are forced to undertake distress sale of their produce due to lack of cold storage, claimed Sisir Mishra, the BJP candidate who is contesting against Naveen.

Mishra says if adequate cold storage facilities are available, to a great extent migration could be avoided. This apart, the Chief Minister has not been able to set up even a pin factory so that the migration could be arrested. “Though Naveen has been representating Hinjili seat in Assembly for about two and half a decades, the area does not look like a VVIP constituency. The officers manage the show here on behalf of the Chief Minister which is again a curse for the local people,” the BJP candidate said.

Naveen is seeking re-election for the sixth time in a row from Hinjili.

The Congress has pitted Rajani Kanta Padhi against the BJD supremo. Though there are 10 candidates in the fray from this constituency, the main contest is likely to be witnessed between the BJD and the BJP in Hinjili which comes under Aska Lok Sabha constituency.

The over 2.31 lakh voters of Hinjili are dependent on agriculture and business. “We are concentrating only on increasing the victory margin,” said Nibedita Pradhan, BJD’s Zilla Parishad member.

Naveen’s close aide and BJD leader V K Pandian said: “You can see ILO data, UNDP data and even Government of India data. The rate of migration has drastically come down from Odisha, distress migration, which is the negative side of migration, has completely come down. Naveen Babu has been taking all measures, In fact, we have the biggest skill development programmes in the country. The World Skill Centre is here in Odisha.”

Naveen is also contesting from Kantabanji Assembly segment in western Odisha’s Bolangir district. This is for the second time that Naveen has been contesting from two Assembly segments. In 2019 elections, he had contested from Hinjili along with Bijepur, a western Odisha Assembly seat. He had won in both the seats. He, however, retained Hinjili following the request of the people.

While the migrant workers from Hinjili work in different spinning mills in Surat, the people from Kantabanji run either to Andhra Pradesh or Telangana to work as daily labourers in different brick kilns. Many times they face torture at the brick kiln. “Can Naveen assure the people of Kantabanji to stop migration,” asked sitting Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja, who is contesting against the Chief Minister in Kantabanji.

Saluja, who has been elected to the Assembly from Kantabanji four times – 1995, 2000, 2009 and 2019, said the BJD government “failed” to set up any industry in the area and the people do not get MGNREGA work. “The people here do not believe that Naveen will retain Kantabanji in case he wins from both the places he has been contesting. Earlier in 2019, Naveen quit Bijepur and retained Hinjili. This time he may repeat the same thing,” Saluja said.

“We will vote for the CM with the expectation that our area will get priority in the BJD government. He may quit, but if elected, the CM would ensure development of the area,” said Basanti Tandi, a woman SHG member.