Village of Army men faces govt 'neglect'

Awaits road connectivity, health, education facilities

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Rajiv Mahajan

NURPUR, AUGUST 19

Jat-Belli, a remote village known as the “land of valiant soldiers” in the Riyali gram panchayat of Fatehpur Assembly constituency, is in a state of neglect. The village, which has 25 soldiers serving in the Army, is without road connectivity even after seven decades of its existence.

Residents of this village, situated on the inter-state border of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, have been running from pillar to post for the past decade to get a road constructed to their village. They have met local MLAs, ministers and even the Chief Minister during this period, but all in vain. They said they only got promises that were never fulfilled by the previous or present state governments.

The villagers, led by a local NGO, met Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur in January this year at Dharamsala. They said he assured them that the construction of the road would be taken up soon.

Their meeting with the Chief Minister allegedly annoyed local Congress MLA Sujan Singh Pathania. Gurmukh Singh, president of Seva Society, alleged he tried to pursue this issue through the local MLA, who declined to help and instead asked the villagers to approach the Chief Minister.

This village that came into existence 72 years ago is very backward. As many as 40 families reside in it. Besides not having a road connectivity, this village also has no health or education facilities.

The villagers have to cross three seasonal ‘khuds’ (streams) to reach their village. The monsoon season is like a nightmare for them as they have to risk their lives while crossing the swollen rivulets.

Harbhajan Singh, Manga Singh, Bhubnesh Rana, Maneka, Nimmo Devi, Ninder Kaur and Radha Devi, local residents said the construction of a 4-km road stretch from Riyali to Beli-Jattan was proposed by the present state government and the Chief Minister had assured villagers that work would be completed by March-end. However, not even a tender has been floated for the project by the Public Works Department (PWD) so far. A number of petitions were also submitted via the Chief Minister helpline, but in vain, they lamented. Ramesh Chand, pradhan of Riyali gram panchayat, has appealed to the Chief Minister to personally intervene in this matter.

Roshan Atri, executive engineer, PWD division, Fatehpur, said a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Rs 523 lakh under the NABARD scheme was prepared for the construction of a 7-km road from Koddu-Bella to Paral via Jat Belli, which had to be cleared by NABARD.

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Caption: Residents of Jat-Belli in Fatehpur cross a swollen khud to reach their village on Tuesday. Tribune photo