CM’s aide locked in 4-corner contest

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, January 30

The contest in Ramnagar in Nainital district is important for Chief Minister Harish Rawat since he has given ticket to one of his close associates and his industrial adviser former Salt MLA Ranjit Rawat.

Ranjit Rawat has been pitted against BJP senior leader and former Ramnagar MLA Diwan Singh Bisht. Two other candidates, local BSP candidate Rajiv Aggarwal and Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) candidate Prabhat Dhyani, are also in the fray. Both leaders have their own pockets of influence.

Ramnagar has the distinction of giving helping former Chief Minister ND Tewari in byelection of 2002. The Ramnagar seat was snatched by BJP’s Diwan Singh Bisht in 2007. Diwan Singh received over 25,949 votes against the Congress candidate who got 14,843 votes. The constituency was won by Congress candidate Amrita Rawat in 2012. Amrita polled 23,851 votes against losing BJP candidate Diwan Singh’s 20,122 votes.

“Ramnagar has several problems that have not been solved by any representatives in three elections after the creation of the state,” said Ganesh Rawat, a social activist of Ramnagar.

Rawat said the problem of 24 forest villages, which were established by the British to do rapid plantation work in the Terai region eastwards from Ramnagar, have not been solved yet.

“Having no revenue status, over 30,000 people living in these villages are living without basic facilities of road, education, health and communication,” said Rawat.

According to Ganesh Rawat, besides the problem of forest villages, Ramnagar has other problems of regularisation of new colonies of Pampapuri, Bharatpuri, Durgapuri and Kharshalya Puri due to which the basic facilities and ownership rights are not given to these residents.

“The long-standing problem of protection wall along the Kosi has not yet been addressed by any government due to which thousands of people are compelled to face problems of shifting during monsoon every year,” said Rawat.

Congress candidate Ranjit Rawat has been highlighting the achievements of the Harish Rawat government of regularising the colonies of Ramnagar.

“We have several achievements in Ramnagar on that basis of that people are fully with the Congress in this elections,” said Ranjit Rawat. He said besides regularising all four colonies, the government had opened roadways depot at Ramnagar and sanctioned a bridge on the Saweldey River.

“The Congress government has also opened a hotel management institute at Saweldey and a polytechnic college at Pirumdara besides opening a degree college at Maldhamchaur,” said Ranjit Rawat.

The Congress candidate also claimed the construction of road linking Shivnathpur, Sakhanpur and Jiwanpur with national highway and providing electricity and drinking water in several villages, including colonies of Shivnathpur Kumbhgadar, Devinullah, Nathawali and Kargil. The BJP candidate linked these achievement with the BJP as the sitting Congress MLA from Ramnagar Amrita Rawat has now joined the party. “The Congress government under Harish Rawat has only put obstruction in the development work in Ramnagar and shifted several tourism schemes like the Ramnagar Kosi tourism circuit scheme shifted to his native region,” said Diwan Singh.

The election campaign has taken an interesting turn these days while Congress candidate Ranjit Rawat is promising to make Ramnagar an town, Diwan Singh of the BJP wants to complete the developmental schemes that have been stopped by the Chief Minister.

UPP candidate Prabhat Dhyani has promised to finish illegal mining from Ramnagar, the BSP candidate Rajiv Aggarwal is banking on his being local and with social contacts. “The basic problems of the town and adjoining villages will remain unaddressed as no government seems to be committed to solve these,” said Ganesh Rawat.