balurghat: There is nothing unusual when one catches a glimpse of Mukul Murmu like any other worker, toiling day in and day out in one of the numerous brickyards that dot this region. However, one definitely stops dead on the track when one sees the same man in his chamber, leading to the Bhatpara Gram Panchayat in South Dinajpur.
Meet 48-year-old Mukul Murmu who deftly plays both the parts- one of a daily wage labourer and the other of the Gram Panchayat Pradhan. In this age where public representatives have become synonymous with power and pelf, Murmu definitely cuts a different figure altogether.
Mukul Murmu was elected to the Bhatpara GP under the Balurghat block of South Dinajpur in 2018 and was elevated to the position of Pradhan in 2022. Since then he has been tirelessly working for the people, keeping their interests before his.
Murmu, the sole bread earner of the family, has been supporting his family by working in the local brickyard before being elected into the Gram Panchayat and still continues to do so. At times when there is no job in the brickyards he also works in the fields as an agricultural labourer. Even though he has some land of his own, it is not always possible for him to cultivate the land as it is located outside the border fencing of India-Bangladesh border.
He still lives in a humble Kuttcha (mud) house. Murmu cycling to the Panchayat office after a hard day of work at the kiln is a common sight in the Bhatpara locality.
The Panchayat Pradhan arrives at the brickyard early in the morning so that he is in time for his Panchayat office after completing his work in the brickyard. He submits his mobile phone to the Manager of the brickyard so that he is just a call away for the villagers who require his services as the Pradhan. He also carries his letter head and official seal to work, draped in his “Gamcha”.