Congess leaders indulge in blame game in Dharamsala bypoll

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, April 19

As campaigning for Dharamsala bypoll is picking up, blame game and mudslinging among the ticket aspirants of Congress and Congress rebel and now the BJP candidate Sudhir Sharma is taking over the real issues.

The ticket aspirants of Congress from Dharamsala are blaming Sudhir Sharma for deserting party at times calling him ‘traitor’. The ticket aspirants of Congress are trying to outdo each other in targeting Sudhir Sharma to bolster their chances of getting party ticket. Sudhir Sharma, on his part, has been targeting Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu blaming him for forcing Congress MLAs to rebel against party due to his ‘dictatorial’ policies.

However, in this blame game the real issues being faced by Dharamsala Assembly constituency have taken a back stage. The biggest issue of the Dharamsala area was declining tourism. Since the outbreak of Corona virus, tourism in Dharamsala has failed to recover. The hoteliers are alleging poor footfall of foreign tourists. The hotel occupancy in the region was down to 10 to 20 percent in off season. Due to poor tourism, about 70 per cent hoteliers in McLeodganj have started offering their properties on lease.

Besides, poor infrastructure, and lack of parking places have given a bad name to the area. Traffic jams during peak season on the road to McLeodganj have become routine due to which the tourists are avoiding the area. However, till date none of the political leaders from the region has talked about any roadmap to recover tourism industry in the region which provides livelihood to a big chunk of population of the region.

The sinking roads connecting Dharamsala with Mcleodganj is another big problem. Though the national highways department had given a tender worth Rs 42 crore for widening and improving the Dharamsala-McLeodganj road its condition remains bad. Many areas of road are still sinking. A proposal has been sent to the Union government for managing the sinking portions of the road.

The alternative road connecting Dharamsala with McLeodganj the Khara Danda road was also sinking at many places but no plan has been put in place to address the problem. Till date, none of the politicians in the ruling or the Opposition has taken up the issue.

The issue of Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) north campus that was to come up in Jadrangal area of Dharamsala Assembly constituency has been taken up in a big way by BJP and its candidate Sudhir Sharma. The Congress leaders seeking party ticket from Dharamsala are being forced to defend the government over the issue.

None of the leaders in the region had talked about issues of shortage of drinking and irrigation water in the region. The issues of people settled on common land in villages, which has been classified as forest land making people encroachers, has not been taken up by any politician of the region.

The issues not being raised

• The biggest issue was declining tourism in Dharamsala. Since the outbreak of Corona virus, tourism in the area has failed to recover. Due to poor tourism, about 70 per cent hoteliers in McLeodganj have started offering their properties on lease
• Besides, poor infrastructure and lack of parking places have given a bad name to the area. Traffic jams during peak season on the road to McLeodganj have become routine
• The alternative road connecting Dharamsala with popular tourist spot McLeodganj the Khara Danda road was also sinking at many places
• Till date, none of the politicians in the ruling or the Opposition has taken up the issue
• None of the leaders in the region has talked about issues of shortage of drinking and irrigation water in the region.

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