District status for Sarkaghat sought

Mandi, January 31

An ex-servicemen association has demanded the district status for Sarkaghat in Mandi district.

Capt Jagdish Verma (retd), state president of the Honorary Commissioned Officers Welfare Association (HCOWA), says, “People living in and around Baldwara in Sarkaghat are aggrieved over its location, it is about 70 km to 80 km from the district headquarters.”

“Barring the Sarkaghat-Ghumarwin expressway, most of the roads are in a miserable condition and irrigation facilities are negligible. Several villages lack connectivity even with link roads,” he says.

“People need to walk over 3 km to catch a bus,” he adds.

“The development of the region has been affected due to its location away from Mandi. Visiting district offices for various work is not only time consuming but also costly. Due to a long distance, the residents of the area are unable to attend even the district-level functions of ex-servicemen organised at Mandi,” says Verma.

“We have written a letter to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary for granting district status to Sarkaghat. This will not only help in speedy development of the area but also reduce the workload in district offices of Mandi to a large extent,” he adds.