Nurpur MLA Pathania committed to end illegal mining

Lalit Mohan

Rakesh Pathania, the BJP MLA from the Nurpur Assembly constituency, starts his day by meeting people in an office on the premises of his residence in, Jachh village, 4 km from Nurpur town. 

Until the time that Pathania comes out to his office from his residence, his employees attend to the workers who flock his residence early in the morning. The constituents are served tea and snacks while they wait for their leader. There are two waiting areas, one for common workers and another air-conditioned office for important people.

Known as an aggressive leader, Pathania is both loved and feared by his supporters. He is feared for being aggressive even with his workers at times and loved for steadfastly standing by them in every kind of situation. While in office, he is seen communicating messages tersely to the officers regarding the works of his constituents.

At home, the wife and the son of Pathania manage the logistics for workers coming to their residence. Bhavani Pathania, the son of Rakesh Pathania, is a former cricketer and is now looking after the family business that includes managing a nursing college. His daughter is studying law in Chandigarh. 

Pathania says illegal mining was destroying the fertile lands of farmers of his constituency and pending irrigation schemes were his biggest challenges politically. I have been fighting the mining mafia in Nurpur, which has strong connections with the Punjab mining mafia due to the fact that the mining area lies on the borders of Punjab. Since big money is involved in illegal mining, it was an uphill task, but I am committed to stand by farmers who are losing their fertile land to illegal mining, he said.

He said completion of the Phina Singh canal project that has been hanging fire for the past more than eight years since its foundation stone was laid in 2010 was his biggest priority during his current stint as the MLA. He said unemployment among the youth and rising drug addiction were the other major problems in his area.

Rakesh Pathania has been in and out of the BJP and has been elected as the MLA from Nurpur for the third time. He was elected as the MLA from Nurpur for the first time on the BJP ticket in 1998. In the 2003 Assembly elections, he lost the poll. 

In 2007 he was elected as the MLA from Nurpur as an Independent after being denied the BJP ticket. However, after being elected, he became an associate member of the BJP. In the 2012 Assembly elections also, Rakesh Pathania contested as an Independent and lost to Congress leader Ajay Mahajan. His strength in the Nurpur Assembly constituency was illustrated by the fact that while he remained at number two position, losing to the Congress candidate by just a margin of 3,000 votes, the BJP candidate lost his deposit. Pathania joined the BJP again during the parliamentary elections in 2014. In the previous Assembly elections, Pathania contested as the BJP candidate and won by a margin of about 7,000 votes.