CUTTACK: Ending all speculations, Damayanti Majhi, the youngest corporator of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), was elected as the deputy mayor of the civic body unopposed on Thursday.A resident of Balisahi slum in Cuttack, the 21-year-old girl had won the corporator post from Ward 49 on a BJD ticket in the recently concluded urban body polls.
Thanking Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and all the BJD leaders of Cuttack for reposing faith in her for the important post, Majhi said serving people is her motto and the reason behind entering politics. “Since my college days, I wanted to enter politics to do something for my area. When elections for the corporator posts were announced and the seat was reserved for ST women, I decided to approach the BJD leaders for a ticket. Fortunately, several senior leaders helped me get it,” said Majhi who is pursuing her final year MCom from Ravenshaw University.
Although a greenhorn when it comes to politics and administration, Majhi said she will balance her responsibilities as the deputy mayor and education well. “I am a newcomer to politics and administration but I am confident of balancing both these roles and my education well,” she said.Top on her agenda for the next five years are drainage, water and electricity connections to all slums, besides sanitation. Her own ramshackle house at Balisahi has water pipe but there is no supply of water.
“There is a lot to do for the city. To begin with, I want to improve the living conditions of people in my slum. There are many other slums in Cuttack where people like me are struggling every day to get basic amenities like drinking water and electricity. Every monsoon, our houses are waterlogged and we stay without electricity for days. I want to change this,” said Majhi. She also wants to ensure that benefits of government schemes reach all the beneficiaries at the grassroots.
Born to Shyamsundar and Sara Majhi of Keonjhar, the young girl has been raising her two siblings along with her mother - a daily wager - ever since her father passed away five years back. She was studying Plus II in Sailabala Women’s College then.
“My father was also a daily wager and things were manageable till he was alive. After him, I started offering tuition to school students to educate my siblings and continue my own education while my mother continues to work as a daily labour to run the house,” she said. While her younger sister is now pursuing Plus III Arts from Ravenshaw, her brother is a trainer in an ITI College at Phulnakhara.Earlier in the day, Majhi won the post after the Opposition BJP and Congress walked out protesting the manner in which the polls were held.