Our Bureau/

“I don’t know who is Satish Chandra Jha, but saw his statute at Dhakamore,” was the cryptic comment of a class X student at a government school who resides near Kharhara village, the native place of one of the heroes of 1942 movement who preferred British’s bullet on his chest at the age of 17 only !

Even the new generation at Kharhara hardly could say anything about the martyr if you will ask them. Indeed, the 17 year-old school boy from Kharhara village in Banka who sacrificed his life in police firing in front of Patna secretariat today on 1942 during Quite India movement, has been a forgotten chapter even at his own village.

Martyr Satish along with 6 other young people lost their lives in police firing when they were on way to host a tricolor on the secretariat, the then British headquarter, Patna on the day. The sculpture of seven young persons in a position to approaching to host the tricolor which installed in front of Patna secretariat, Satish could be mark there. Another statute of the martyr Satish was installed beside Bhagalpur-Dumka road at Dhakamore, located near Kharhara.

Very few persons are there to celebrate  76 th martyrdom day of Satish  and it was very simple function: his distant relative a poor BPL holder family, and some local shopkeeper at Dhakamore bus stand this morning washed the statue and garlanded it. There was no official programme to commemorate the day today at Banka. District magistrate, Kundam Kumar this morning, told that he was busy in conducting raids at Banka district jail with superintendent of police.

But  block level officials and local leaders  later in the day completed their formalities while putting some garlands on the statue. “It was completing formalities by the district administration only, nothing else,” said Binod Kumar, a shopkeeper at Dhakamore alleged.

“We use to host tricolor on August 15 and January 26 at the statue of the martyr every year which located at Dhakamore. But we have to arrange everything from our pockets, not a single official concerned bother even to ask us,” Maheshwari Jha, a distant relative of the martyr family  alleged.

People have been demanding to change the name of Barahat railway station on Bhagalpur-Hansdiya-Dumka-Rampurhat section in the name of martyr Satish, but it wasn’t fulfill yet, alleged Kashinath Choudhary, Mukhiya of the Panchyat. “We  only could feel proud to be from Kharhara village but Satish is being forgotten,” many villagers pointed out.

Formalities only ?

Another villager, Gourishanker Jha pointed out the poor condition of the arch gate once constructed in the memory of the martyr Satish at the entrance of Kharhara village in seventies. “Local administration forgets for the maintenance of the arch gate, we are poor, not capable of repairing it, if proper repairing works would not be done it could collapse anytime,” he said.

Hari Narayan, a social activist at Banka said that Banka district once had the privilege many noted freedom fighters but unfortunately most of them are forgotten chapters here. “No function to commemorate the martyrdom of personality like Sathish is done from government side,” he alleged. Manoj Yadav, another social worker said earlier people and social organizations used to organize programme on such events.