A youth from Nadia’s Dhubulia has plunged into the rural poll fray to push for the restoration of the Jalangi river and several dry streams that were once lifelines for lakhs of people across the state.

Tarak Ghosh, 37, a resident of Mayakol village, is a Class III drop-out. He is neither a political worker nor has leanings towards any party. Ghosh is contesting as an Independent candidate for the Nadia zilla parishad from seat number 24 with a single-point agenda — restoration and re-excavation of the dead stretch of the Jalangi.

The Jalangi is a branch of the Ganga, running 233km through Murshidabad and Nadia districts before meeting the Bhagirathi and strengthening its lower channel, the Hooghly.

The Jalangi originates from Chak Madhubona in Nadia’s Karimpur 1 block and meets the Bhagirathi at Swarupganj near Nabadwip. However, the river has lost its current owing to multiple factors, including heavy siltation, erosion, encroachments, illegal construction of roads and farming on the river bed.

A few lakh people who live along the Jalangi and once depended on it to earn a living by fishing have been suffering a survival crisis.

“It is a horrible situation. Neither the Centre nor the state government is concerned about the condition of the rivers like Jalangi and the people living along their banks. I am not a political worker. Nevertheless, I have decided to seek votes to draw the attention of the people so that I can push the demand for reforms with their support,” said Ghosh.

Ghosh, a member of the Jalangi Nadi Samaj that demands the restoration and re-excavation of the Jalangi and other rivers and waterbodies, said: “So far, my activities were restricted to the submission of written petitions to the administration. Now, I am marking a new beginning of a movement for the river. It might be a small effort, but I am hoping to reach out to people in at least 100 villages located within my constituency.”

“In the past 10 years, I have seen how things changed along the Jalangi. I was a farmer even a few years ago but was compelled to change my profession since the irrigation facility from the Jalangi was stopped owing to the absence of water. There are many like me in my area and I have seen how many fishermen have now become daily labourers because of the death of the river,” Ghosh said, adding that victory or defeat “mattered little”.

Ghosh now ekes out a living by painting buildings.

Affixing a microphone to a toto, Ghosh, along with a handful of his friends and members of Jalangi Nadi Samaj, has been appealing to people to vote for him.

Amitabha Sengupta, a member of the Jalangi Nadi Samaj, said: “Tarak’s fight will inspire more people to come up to take similar endeavours.”