Wooing trans-railway line voters a big challenge

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 11

Facing problems pertaining to lack of basic amenities, voters in the area located across the railway lines are cautious of the candidates and their promises this time. In turn, wooing the electorate in these areas has become a big challenge for the candidates.

The trans-railway line area, housing thousands of families in various localities, includes Gopal Nagar, Parasram Nagar, Partap Nagar, Lal Singh Basti, Amarpura Basti, Sanguana Basti, Sanjay Nagar and others.

During the Municipal Corporation elections held in 2015, for the first time, the area got its representative as the Mayor.

Balwant Rai Nath had to be named the mayor as the seat fell into the SC category due to which the ruling alliance had to sideline its former Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman.

Despite Nath becoming the Mayor, the area didn’t change much over the past one-and-a-half-year.

Of the 2.88 lakh population of the city, nearly 80,000 people live in the trans-railway line areas.

Residents here have been criticising the state government and the administration for ignoring development of their area.

While the poor condition of roads is affecting obstructing flow of traffic, the streets in the area have not been carpeted, which has led to many accidents.

Due to no proper drainage system, rainwater accumulates on the streets.

In the absence of proper sewerage system, drains remained choked and sewage gets mixed with drinking water.

Residents have alleged that the newly laid underground pipes had many engineering defects.

They have repeatedly protested against the MCB for not providing them clean drinking water.

“Roads have not been laid in the area due to which residents have to face a lot of inconvenience. It has resulted in an increase in the number of accidents,” said Kamal, a resident of the Surkhpeer road area.

“Despite being a densely populated area, hardly 30-35 per cent of the localities have proper sewerage facility. Sewer pipes are not being de-silted on time, leaving the drains clogged,” said Harpreet Singh, a resident of the area.

Not the ones to be lured by last-ditch efforts made by the ruling alliance to woo the voters, residents are alert about what the candidates are promising for the area to resolve their problems.

“Over all these years, ahead of every election, candidates have made tall promises but few of them were fulfilled. Despite the fact that more than a quarter of the population of the city lives in these areas, political parties have been neglecting us,” said Harmanjit Singh, a resident of Partap Nagar.

Other residents pointed out the act that except one or two instances, candidates are yet to start campaigning in these areas, which further points to the discriminatory attitude of the parties.