Date:01/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/01/stories/2007040102000300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Where are the sites, sewing machines? ask women

Alladi Jayasri

BANGALORE: Ramanagaram, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's constituency, is shining by all accounts. However on Saturday, as the town put on a festive look and decided to celebrate its moment in the sun, not all of Ramanagaram was brimming with joy.

In Kayisoppu Beedi (ward No. 4), which has 101 homes, it was just another day. The water tanker, which comes in once every five days arrived in the afternoon, causing a mad scramble of residents to stock up water until the next visit.

Ramakka and Puttamma, in their 50s, and clearly the matriarchs of their families, made it plain that Ramanagaram's date with the Chief Minister didn't excite them at all. "The Chief Minister, poor man, does not know that the moment his back is turned, those who ought to implement his orders do not bother about us," Ms. Puttamma said.

"Just give us a few minutes with him, and I will tell him a thing or two about the people whom he trusts," Ms. Ramakka added fiercely.

Plainly, the burden of the loan she took to pay the Rs. 5,000 for a site promised last year still rankles.

Though the scheme was announced with much fanfare, no one has received a site till today.

There were plenty of complaints about how several welfare schemes were non-starters. Shwetha, a second year arts student, said: "Some months ago, sewing machines were distributed to some of us at a function by the Chief Minister himself. They were taken away the next day, and we have not seen them since."

As for healthcare and education, the attention patients receive at the Government hospital in town is indifferent at best. About half-a-dozen private schools charge hefty fees, and children often drop out and take up work at the silkworm rearing centres.

Most of the women are members of the 82-odd self-help groups. The one on this street is Bhagyalakshmi Sangha. The women take loans usually for personal consumption — either for a sickness in the family or to pay fees.

"Today's programme is all about the upcoming elections to the City Municipal Corporation," says Ramakka. "In my house there are 14 votes. But we have only one food coupon that can feed eight of us for just a couple of weeks. So why should we vote for anyone?"

But both these women have a wish — that the arrack shops in the town are closed. This could be one wish that will come true.