Lack of road connectivity, staff shortage in Civil Hospital main issues in Dehra bypoll

Raghav Guleria

Dharamsala, July 4

The fact that an Independent candidate had won the Dehra seat in Kangra district twice proves that both main political parties could not live up to the expectations of the electorate. 0

Dehra is one of the oldest tehsils of Kangra district and the people of the constituency are confronting a plethora of issues, which, they say, have not been addressed due to the lack of political will. The geographical location of the constituency is another hindrance to its development as a majority of the population is scattered around the haphazard Pong wetland.

Acute shortage of drinking water

• There is an acute shortage of drinking water though many perennial rivers flow through the Dehra Assembly constituency
• The much-hyped Jal Jeevan Mission has not been able to quench the thirst of the people of Dehra villages
• The Naker Khud, which is the main source of water, dried up this summer, forcing the Jal Shakti Department to lift water from the Beas
• The setting up of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh in Dehra has raised hope but the project has taken 15 long years

Connectivity remains the biggest issue for the people of this region as new roads and bridges are required. The road connecting Dehra and Jawali subdivisions is still single lane. The damaged Nagrota Surian-Lunj road is full of potholes and causes inconvenience to people heading towards Dharamsala or patients referred to the Tanda medical college and hospital. The construction of a bridge on the Nand Nala has not been completed for the past four years though it is considered the lifeline for Nandpur, Guler, Barial and Ludret villages, to name a few, which get disconnected towards Dehra subdivision and Haripur tehsil owing to the backwaters of the lake.

The Civil Hospital at Dehra, which caters to a population of about four lakh residing in the township and surrounding villages as far as Jwalaji, Dadasiba and Chintpurni, lacks the basic infrastructure and skilled staff. There are only three Class IV employees against 11 needed for the 100-bed hospital. Dr Gurmeet Singh, SMO, Civil Hospital, Dehra, says, “The hospital needs an assistant and an anesthesia work station to start the operating theatre. A radiologist is also needed for ultrasound tests.”

Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of Dehra, says, “In the absence of a blood bank and an orthopaedic doctor in the Civil Hospital, patients are referred to other hospitals. A CT scan machine announced 12 years ago by the then Chief Minister is yet to be installed. Many other primary health centres lack the basic equipment.”