Withdraw poll boycott call, Kullu DC urges villagers

Tribune News Service

Mandi, December 1

The Kullu administration has appealed to Manali villagers to take back their boycott call of the coming panchayat elections. In a statement issue today, Kullu DC Rakesh Kanwar urged the residents of Burua and Palchan panchayats to withdraw their boycott call and actively take part in the electoral process.

Members of the Burua panchayat in Manali subdivision of Kullu district had yesterday decided to boycott the coming panchayat elections. A large number of residents of upper Manali region had lost their livelihood after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had imposed a ban on all commercial activities at Rohtang Pass, Solang Nullah and Marhi.

The villagers had said that they would not cast their votes in forthcoming panchayat elections 2015-16.

They had stated that the state government had failed to put up their case strongly before the NGT and despite directions from the green tribunal, the state government had also not done anything for rehabilitation of the affected villagers.

The DC said elections were the most important part of the democratic process and the residents should participate in the elections and exercise their franchise.

He said strong and honest public representatives chosen by them would help in resolving their problems. Hence, panchayat elections boycott would not solve any problem, he added.

The state government was firmly taking up the case of the affected people before the NGT and the administration was making all possible efforts for protection of their rights, he added.

The DC said the NGT had been apprised of the ground realities. The state government would prepare and present a relief and rehabilitation plan before the tribunal on the next date of hearing on December 17.

The DC also directed the Manali SDM and Naggar BDO to persuade the residents and public representatives not to boycott the panchayat elections and actively take part in the election process.

On July 7, the NGT had imposed a ban on all commercial activities, including horse-riding, snow-biking, paragliding, tyre-tube gaming and snow scooters, skiing, bungi-jumping, traditional and snow dresses at eco-sensitive Rohtang Pass, Solang Nullah and Marhi to protect the fragile environment of the area.

Nearly 90 per cent population in nine villages of three panchayats — Goshal, Palchan and Burua — were solely dependent on tourism-related activities in upper Manali region. With closure of commercial activities, the villagers, mostly illiterate, had lost their source of income.

The green panel had asked the state government to frame a rehabilitation plan to re-engage the affected persons in alternative employments.