58 villages in Almora district decide to abstain from voting

DEHRADUN/ ALMORA: Angry at the absence of basic facilities like road and water in their area, people of as many as 58 villages in Almora district have decided not to cast their vote in the forthcoming assembly elections. The decision to abstain from voting has been taken by 18 villages in Bhainsiya Channa block, 12 villages in Jageshwar block, eight villages in Someshwar block and eight villages in Salt block of Almora district.Besides, 12 villages in Almora constituency will also boycott polls this time.
Elaborating on the decision to abstain from exercising their franchise, Jagat Singh, gram pradhan of Ramtola village of Bhainsiya Channa block, told TOI, “Most of the houses in our village were razed in the landslides triggered by heavy rains in 2010. Since then, many people are still staying in their relatives’ houses while the people of scheduled caste communities are forced to live in schools. We have been demanding relocation to safer places but the state government has done nothing in this regard. So we have decided to not vote this time.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Krishna Prasad, gram pradhan of Bajela village of Jageshwar block which had been grappling with absence of a road for almost a decade, “We have been demanding a road connecting all the nearby villages for the past ten years but it has not happened. People have to walk 15 km for almost one and a half hours to reach the nearby medical facility. We have become tired of complaining about this and have decided to now teach political parties a lesson by not voting for them in this election.”
In Bhainsali village of Ranikhet, Balram Singh, the gram pradhan, complained that a road constructed to their village in 1972 had become non-operational a few years ago but despite several reminders, it had not been constructed as a result of which commuting had become a big problem for them. Mahesh Ram, gram pradhan of Bora village, added, “We travel 10 km just to buy grocery. Why should we vote when the government has been ignoring villagers all these years?”
Acknowledging the problems of the villagers, Savin Bansal, district magistrate, Almora, told TOI, “The issues related to lack of roads as well as relocation to safer places have existed for some time. For instance, in Bhainsiya Channa, shifting those affected by the natural disaster to the nearby forest land was an option, but the forest department has not given a clearance for it. Also, funds could not be cleared for infrastructure projects due to implementation of model code of conduct. We have shown villagers documents that their matters are progressing but it takes time to get things done.” He added that officials had been sent to convince the villagers not to forsake their right to vote.
(Inputs by Arpita Chakrabarty)