Sirsa: Chautala villagers protest over damaged roads, deflate official vehicle’s tyres

Chautala village in Sirsa, Haryana, which has given the country leaders like a Deputy Prime Minister, Chief Minister, ministers, many MPs and MLAs, is still struggling with basic facilities. For the past several months, villagers and shopkeepers have been facing serious problems due to badly damaged roads. These roads were dug up by the Public Health Department to lay water and sewer pipelines, but the roads were never repaired. This careless attitude by the administration has frustrated the people, and on Wednesday, their patience finally ran out.

The protest began around 10 am when a large number of villagers and shopkeepers gathered in the main market of Chautala. They shouted slogans against the administration and the Public Works Department (PWD) for not fixing the roads. By noon, the situation intensified as angry villagers shut down the market, and all shopkeepers joined the protest.

The villagers demanded immediate repair of the broken roads, replacement of old and damaged drinking water pipelines and an investigation into the use of poor-quality materials in previous road works. They also demanded strict action against those responsible.

Farmer leader Rakesh Phagodiya said a village committee was formed to lead the protest and warned that if officials continued to ignore them, 11 young men from the village would climb the water tank in protest. As the protest grew louder, PWD Officer Paramjit Bhullar arrived at the scene and tried to calm the villagers by assuring them that the roads would be repaired soon. However, the villagers were not satisfied with his verbal promise. They insisted that only a senior officer like the SE (Superintending Engineer) or XEN (Executive Engineer) could give proper assurance.

Tension rose when the villagers deflated the tyres of his official vehicle and made him stay at the protest site. He was not allowed to leave until a bigger commitment was made. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Bhullar contacted his senior officials. The SE spoke to the protestors over the phone and promised that the tender process for road repairs would begin on Monday, and until then, the department would make sure the roads were in a usable condition. The villagers also spoke to the SDM over the phone, who assured them that all their demands would be addressed soon.

After receiving written and verbal assurances from the officials, the villagers decided to halt the protest. However, Rakesh Phagodiya warned that if the promises are not fulfilled quickly, the villagers would restart the protest with even greater strength.

Many locals including farmers, workers, shopkeepers, and local leaders like Dayaram Ulania, Kunwar Veer Hitler, Atma Ram Chhipa (former sarpanch), and others were present at the protest site to lend their support.