Party-politics a bane for Ramgarh Bhullar village

Minna Zutshi & Jaswant Shetra

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana/ Jagraon, October 12

At a first glance, Ramgarh Bhullar village looks like a typical village of Punjab – neither very remarkable nor entirely dismal. But half-an-hour’s interaction with villagers and a journey through the village reveals that party politics has become bane for this village that falls in Jagraon Assembly constituency.

The village has a population of around 5,000, with close to 2,200 voters. It’s about 10 km from Jagraon town.

According to villagers, the village development is being neglected because the sarpanch is from the Congress Party. Legislator SR Kler belongs to the Akali Dal.

“There is a lot in the village that requires attention. The roads are in bad shape. Three ponds in the village are in dire need of treatment,” says sarpanch Major (Retd.) Dyal Singh.

He said step-motherly treatment was being meted out to the village. “Had my affiliation been with the Akali Dal, the village would have got grants and also development work would have been carried without any hindrance.”

The sarpanch said grants close to Rs 3.96 lakh have been blocked.

“The roads are in bad shape because of the promise of a sewerage project!” this is a villager’s wry observation.

“The roads were dug up in some areas to start a sewerage project. The project never got completed. Even the water supply was disrupted in the process,” says former sarpanch Mahinder Pal Kaur.

Absence of streetlights is another problem that’s affecting the daily life of villagers. “I sometimes wonder why villages lack basic civic amenities. Perhaps, development becomes a first casualty in case of political rivalry,” says a young villager.

Yet another allegation of the villagers of Ramgarh Bhullar is that politics takes the centre-stage when it comes to addressing public grievances. “The grievances of supporters of the ruling party are addressed to with alacrity by the police and administration, while others are left high and dry. Even in the atta-daal scheme, there has been a discriminatory attitude,” alleges a villager.

Despite repeated attempts, Kler could not be contacted.