“We have decided to boycott the upcoming elections… This is the last thing we can do to get ourselves heard,” said Virendra Lal as the villagers of Chandrapuri gathered for a “poll boycott meeting”.
Three-and-a-half years after the Mandakini river gushed through the Kedarnath Valley, devastating all in its path, the residents of Chandrapuri, which falls in the Kedarnath Assembly constituency, wait for a bridge to replace the one that was washed away in the June 2013 deluge.
The rampaging river shifted its course, sweeping away houses and shops, inundated fields and claimed about 4,000 lives. In Chandrapuri alone, 57 houses were damaged. The village is home to around 300 families. The residents of Chandrapuri are not alone in their protest. Six gram sabhas that have been affected due to the delay in reconstructing another bridge, have also decided to boycott the upcoming polls, according to Sulochna Devi, Chandrapuri village head.
When the bridge was washed away, the villagers expected the Public Works Department (PWD) would build another bridge soon. “Shaila Rani Rawat [the then Congress MLA] visited the village two months after the disaster,” Ashish Joshi from the village complained.
Ms. Rawat is among the nine Congress “rebel” MLAs, who supported the BJP, leading to the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand. She is now the BJP’s candidate from the Kedarnath seat.
Given the inaction of the authorities, the villagers constructed a makeshift bridge themselves. But that too got washed away in the 2014 monsoon. “The PWD got a cable car for us, but it is managed so badly that a few children have cut their fingers while operating it and a 24-year-old from the village died [in August, 2016] in an accident near the river,” Ms. Sulochana said.
The present makeshift bridge, which offers a lifeline to the village, will have to be dismantled ahead of the monsoons. “The candidates have been approaching us for votes, but we have no faith in anyone. We will visit the concerned authorities with our decision to boycott the polls. This is our last resort to get a bridge constructed before the monsoon season arrives,” Ms. Sulochna said.
