Ask leaders about work done in villages, Joshi urges people

PITHORAGARH: Anil Joshi, convener of the Gaon Bachao Yatra that has reached Pithoragarh, today appealed to people to demand from politicians details of development works done in their villages when they come to seek their votes again in the next Assembly elections.

Anil Joshi, convener of the Gaon Bachao Yatra, urges people in Pithoragarh on Saturday to vote for leaders who have done good work in villages.

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, October 22

Anil Joshi, convener of the Gaon Bachao Yatra that has reached Pithoragarh, today appealed to people to demand from politicians details of development works done in their villages when they come to seek their votes again in the next Assembly elections.

Joshi, while addressing villagers at Gandhi Chowk here, said politicians need to answer over 100 questions of the people that arose in the last 16 years of statehood. “Uttarakhand, which came into being following sacrifices by common people, is in the grip of the mining and liquor mafia. Dams are being built ignoring the needs of villages, which should have been the focal point of all development activities,” he added.

Volunteers from local villages held a procession in the town today. They shouted slogans for the empowerment of villagers and sought details from politicians about the works done in villages in the last 16 years.

Joshi blamed politicians for the messy situation in the state. He appealed to people to be careful of the designs of the politicians in power. “Even today able-bodied youths are deserting villages in Kumaon and Garhwal and only aged persons are now found there. “Youths have migrated from their hill villages as successive state governments have failed to make them self-sufficient,” he said.

Earlier Joshi, while talking to mediapersons, said until 70 per cent of the developmental budget of the state was spent on improving the condition of villages, migration from hilly rural areas could not be stopped. “Providing health and educational facilities in villages should be the first priority of the budget spending,” he added.

Joshi said the hill region has sufficient capacity to create employment opportunities for local youths only the government needs to act seriously in this regard. “The government should have gone for branding of local produces for the benefit of villagers. The process will create jobs locally,” he added.

Asked if his yatra has had any impact on the government’s development policies, Joshi said the importance given by the government to promoting local cereals such as Mandua and Jhangora and other pro-village policies were the result of his previous yatras.