Reliant on Gujarat for jobs, factories the most pressing demand in Nandurbar

“In the morning, a train heading to Surat is packed with villagers from Navapur,” says Sunder Gavit, a third-year BA student in Panbara. “The villagers go up and down daily.” Some migrate to Gujarat for three to six months at a time on a contract basis, he adds.

Across the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in the Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to poll on May 13, unemployment is an issue that resonates. “With no industries coming to our district, people have no option but to explore work opportunities in Gujarat,” Sunder says.

Though education is gaining prominence in the tribal belt, the hopes of the youth for a transformation in Nandurbar go unanswered. Despite some infrastructural improvements and better access to welfare schemes, the district has remained backward for over six decades. The Centre’s Ujjwala scheme for subsidised LPG cylinders, for instance, has reached every household here but women use LPG sparingly — to make tea in a hurry, but not for rice or “bhakri (bread)”, which are still cooked on chullahs. “Rs 900 for a cylinder is expensive,” says Pramila Gavit, a daily wager and homemaker.

Once a Congress bastion from where Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi always kickstarted their poll campaign for Maharashtra, Nandurbar has been represented by BJP MP Heena Gavit since 2014. A doctor-turned-politician, 35-year-old Heena has been fielded again by the BJP. She faces the Congress’s Gowal Padavi, a 32-year-old lawyer who is the son of former Congress minister and Akkalkuwa MLA K C Padavi.

In the ST-reserved seat, Heena targeted Gowal for being an “outsider”. “Gowal has always lived in Mumbai. How will he know the problems of Adivasis?” she says.

Countering his BJP rival, the Congress candidate says, “I am originally from village Asali, taluka Akram. I went to Mumbai to study for my LLB, LLM. But I have spent time in my village and worked in my father’s constituency.” Gowal says Heena herself lived in Mumbai till 2014 and never worked in the constituency before becoming its MP.

Nandurbar is among six Lok Sabha constituencies in north Maharashtra that have a distinct identity and set of problems, including a lack of basic amenities such as healthcare, drinking water, and schools. But from one village to the next, the overwhelming demand is for factories and industries.

Addressing a rally in Nandurbar on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said unlike the Congress he “understands the problems of deprived sections”. The PM said, “Adivasis and the poor suffered a lot in terms of lack of access to housing, electricity, and water even after 60 years of Independence. But my government has worked hard to improve their lives.”

In March, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visited Nandurbar during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. “Tribals with 8% population will get their representation in development … The BJP is taking away Adivasi homes and land and destroying jungles in the name of development to favour big industrialists,” he said at the time.

The relocation of projects from Maharashtra to Gujarat is another line of attack against the BJP. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray recently said, “Unemployment is the main problem confronting the youth today. Why should Maharashtra projects shift to Gujarat?”

State Congress chief Nana Patole echoed him, saying, “From Vidarbha to north Maharashtra, if there is one common issue, it is unemployment. In the absence of big projects, job opportunities shrink.”

However, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has dismissed the Opposition’s accusation, saying, “Maharashtra had inked Rs 3.53 lakh crore projects during the World Economic Forum held at Davos. The state remains a preferred industry-friendly destination.”

In Nandurbar though, the debate on the relocation of projects from Maharashtra to Gujarat is discussed in whispers. With the majority dependent on both states for life and livelihood, they are cautious not to get into fights over politics.

At the Navapur railway station along the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, a thick line chalked on the platform marks the boundary that separates Maharashtra and Gujarat, with maps of the two states on display on either side. While the ticket window falls in Maharashtra, the station master’s office is in Gujarat. But for the Navapur villagers who live in Maharashtra and search for work in Gujarat, the line dividing the states remains meaningless.