Gashes in the Red Sand

Residents of the tribal district of Gadchiroli resist development models that destroy the environment

- Shweta Desai

RED banners strung between sturdy teak tree limbs are the first visible warning signs that you have crossed over into eastern Maharashtra’s ‘Naxal-liberated zone’. One banner on the road to Binagunda village in Gadchiroli’s southern interior sports the message, “Maoists support innocent Adivasis. Stop killing and arrests of Adivasis under Operation Kagar. Stop corporatisation and militarisation,” scribbled in a smattering of the local Madiya Gondi and Hindi. Other posters ask people to boycott the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and banish what the text describes as the ‘‘BrahminHindutvawadi’’ Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Naxal propaganda is the sole indication of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls within the isolated and largely inaccessible region of the hilly, deciduous forests of Bhamragad, which is controlled by the guerrilla army of the Communist Party of India.

“No politician ever comes here. It doesn’t matter who’s elected,” says Brindi Rama Durva from Binagunda, a scenic village with 25 resident families. Electricity poles were set up here only last month, but the power supply hasn’t started full-time. “There was electricity for one day. After that, it stopped,” says a villager, mocking the State government’s half-hearted attempts to provide basic amenities. 

The imprint of development and democracy appears to draw to a screeching halt at the threshold of Binagunda’s boundaries.