Youth tries to kill self as BMC didn’t offer job
Ganesh Dhumal consumed insecticide at his home after failing to get work in exchange for family’s farm land.
It is a project meant to increase water supply for new buildings in the city from 45 litres per day to 135 litres, but the BMC’s promise of jobs that remained unfulfilled for land losers in the decade it took to get off the ground slowly drove Ganesh Dhumal from dwindling hope to attempted suicide.
On Saturday, Dhumal, 21, a resident of Jambavali village in Thane district’s Bhiwandi taluka, consumed a bottle of insecticide to end the agony of poverty. While he battles for life at a Thane hospital, his mother Dayawati can only recount ten years of setbacks and rules that just didn’t work for them.
“A heart attack claimed my husband’s life eight years ago, and ever since, I have been waiting for Ganesh to grow up and become eligible for a BMC job. The income would have been a welcome addition to the salary I draw as an Anganwadi worker,” Dayawati told Mirror outside the ICU at Criticare Hospital, where Dhumal is admitted.
She added that her son had applied several times to the BMC labour department for a job as per the acquisition deal. “He was told that his name will be included in an order, after which he will be employed as a security guard. But that order never came. More than the job, Ganesh was fed up of the bureaucracy. He was made to make the rounds of different offices by BMC,” said Dayawati, 50.
Over a year ago, insult was added to injury when Dayawati and her son-in-law – Dhumal’s sister’s husband – were arrested and jailed for a day for not allowing labour contracted by BMC to implement the pipeline project on his land. “Ganesh was adamant that if he doesn’t get a job from BMC as promised, he will not let the contractor work on his land, even it means facing death,” his brother-in-law, Shashikant Patil, said.
The pipeline project acquired land in Jambavali and another 10-15 villages nearby. While some youngsters have been hired as security guards, garden boy and for other posts, there are many who are yet to get a job. “Ganesh is the only son in the family. All three of his sisters are married. Four years ago, BMC announced job openings for these project-affected people, but at that time, Ganesh was not yet 18, and his mother had already crossed the upper age limit of 45,” said Patil, a civil engineer.
On Saturday, Dhumal called his friend around 11:30 am, saying he was fed up with his life as he wasn’t getting a job. He then drank the insecticide and threw the bottle at home. “He fell unconscious and I saw a bottle of organic phosphorus. That’s how I realised what he had done. He was first taken to a local hospital and then shifted to Criticare Hospital in Thane,” added Dayawati.
Dhumal is in a critical condition and has been kept under observation. “He was brought here with respiratory problems. He has to be kept under observation for two weeks as it’s a sensitive case. This poison affects the brain and lungs the most,” said Dr Santosh Rathi, Medical Director, Criticare Hospital.
“We have come to know about the incident, but don’t know why his application was rejected. We will inquire into the matter. Most probably, he didn’t get a job due to some problems with his documentation,” said an official from the BMC Personnel Department.
It is a project meant to increase water supply for new buildings in the city from 45 litres per day to 135 litres, but the BMC’s promise of jobs that remained unfulfilled for land losers in the decade it took to get off the ground slowly drove Ganesh Dhumal from dwindling hope to attempted suicide.
On Saturday, Dhumal, 21, a resident of Jambavali village in Thane district’s Bhiwandi taluka, consumed a bottle of insecticide to end the agony of poverty. While he battles for life at a Thane hospital, his mother Dayawati can only recount ten years of setbacks and rules that just didn’t work for them.
Dhumal, who has passed the HSC examination, was around 11 when the three-odd acres of land that had sustained his farmer family was acquired by BMC for a pipeline project that would take water from the Vaitarna dam to Mumbai. Apart from the paltry monetary compensation, the civic body promised jobs for those whose lands were acquired for the project.
“A heart attack claimed my husband’s life eight years ago, and ever since, I have been waiting for Ganesh to grow up and become eligible for a BMC job. The income would have been a welcome addition to the salary I draw as an Anganwadi worker,” Dayawati told Mirror outside the ICU at Criticare Hospital, where Dhumal is admitted.
She added that her son had applied several times to the BMC labour department for a job as per the acquisition deal. “He was told that his name will be included in an order, after which he will be employed as a security guard. But that order never came. More than the job, Ganesh was fed up of the bureaucracy. He was made to make the rounds of different offices by BMC,” said Dayawati, 50.
Over a year ago, insult was added to injury when Dayawati and her son-in-law – Dhumal’s sister’s husband – were arrested and jailed for a day for not allowing labour contracted by BMC to implement the pipeline project on his land. “Ganesh was adamant that if he doesn’t get a job from BMC as promised, he will not let the contractor work on his land, even it means facing death,” his brother-in-law, Shashikant Patil, said.
The pipeline project acquired land in Jambavali and another 10-15 villages nearby. While some youngsters have been hired as security guards, garden boy and for other posts, there are many who are yet to get a job. “Ganesh is the only son in the family. All three of his sisters are married. Four years ago, BMC announced job openings for these project-affected people, but at that time, Ganesh was not yet 18, and his mother had already crossed the upper age limit of 45,” said Patil, a civil engineer.
On Saturday, Dhumal called his friend around 11:30 am, saying he was fed up with his life as he wasn’t getting a job. He then drank the insecticide and threw the bottle at home. “He fell unconscious and I saw a bottle of organic phosphorus. That’s how I realised what he had done. He was first taken to a local hospital and then shifted to Criticare Hospital in Thane,” added Dayawati.
Dhumal is in a critical condition and has been kept under observation. “He was brought here with respiratory problems. He has to be kept under observation for two weeks as it’s a sensitive case. This poison affects the brain and lungs the most,” said Dr Santosh Rathi, Medical Director, Criticare Hospital.
“We have come to know about the incident, but don’t know why his application was rejected. We will inquire into the matter. Most probably, he didn’t get a job due to some problems with his documentation,” said an official from the BMC Personnel Department.
