Abohar: Jakhar looks to extend unbeaten run

Raj Sadosh

Two years ago, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal laid the foundation stone for a Rs 7-crore water purification plant in the new water works on the Abohar-Hanumangarh road. Work on the project is yet to start, underlining the neglect that Abohar has suffered at the hands of the government during the past five years. Residents are thirsting for potable water. In some colonies, women have to fetch water past midnight as there is no supply during the day.

Sitting Congress MLA Sunil Jakhar, who has won three Assembly elections in a row, recently released a “report card” of his achievements. He got Rs 42 crore released for a sewage treatment plant, while outdated fire tenders were replaced after he approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court with public interest litigations.

The Abohar-Fazilka rail link, a project that had been in limbo for the past two decades, was finally opened. Thanks to Jakhar’s good ties with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Rs 7.3 crore were released for a steel overbridge to link two areas of the town. However, Jakhar was not invited for the inaugural function, courtesy petty politics.

Badal held only one Sangat Darshan programme here in the past five years, when rain ravaged low-lying slum areas in September 2014. The CM sanctioned Rs 2 crore to provide a sewerage channel for two colonies, but no work has been initiated so far.

While the Congress has renominated Jakhar, as expected, the Aam Aadmi Party courted controversy by fielding Atul Nagpal, a turncoat based in Fazilka. At least two dozen local ticket aspirants have refused to back him.

BJP candidates were twice pushed to the third spot in the Assembly elections by Independents belonging to the dominant Arora community, but the saffron party managed to win the Municipal Council elections twice. Even as the BJP has not finalised its candidate, it is banking on the Amrut Yojana, under which Rs 100 crore are to be spent on upgrading the sewerage system in the next five years.