Gandhi to develop Balh as model Assembly segment

Dipender Manta

Advertisement

Road connectivity, availability of potable water and promotion of tourism in his Assembly constituency to create job opportunities for the local youth are among the priorities of the BJP MLA from Balh, Inder Singh Gandhi.

Gandhi who defeated his arch rival, Congress leader and former Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary, with a huge margin of 10,452 votes last year in the state Assembly poll says efforts are afoot to develop Balh as a model Assembly segment.

“About 30 per cent panchayats in my area still lack road connectivity and my focus is on connecting these panchayats with roads besides providing potable water in the panchayats facing water scarcity,” says Gandhi, adding that a water scheme worth Rs 38 crore for the upper Balh valley, which will cover 22 panchayats of the constituency, has been proposed.

Places like Nalsar, Rewalsar lake, Naina Mata temple and Murari Mata temple will be developed for the purpose of tourism, which will create job avenues for the local youth and the channelisation of  the Suketi River, which causes losses to the farmers in the region during the rainy season, will be another area of focus, the MLA told the Himachal Tribune.

Born in Khandla village of Mandi district, 55-year-old Gandhi’s association with the RSS dates back to 1981. He completed his secondary education from Government School, Dhangayara, in Mandi district and served with the state government as a surveyor in the Irrigation and Public Health Department from 1983 to 2012. 

During this period, Gandhi joined the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh besides the NGO Employee Federation and worked on various posts. He was elevated as the district president of the NGO Employee Federation Union in 2003 and remained the district president of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh from 2001 to 2012.

Gandhi’s political journey started as an NGO leader, which proved to be his strength in the previous Assembly polls. He was given the BJP ticket in 2012 but lost to Congress candidate Prakash Chaudahry. In 2017, he was again given the ticket by the BJP and he successfully entered the Vidhan Sabha.