Voters in Jawali wards to stay away

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur January 7

Around 1,000 residents of Nagreta, Pargod, Bareta, Kalru, Lehra and Barian villages situated in wards 5, 6 and 7 of Pargod gram panchayat in the Rait development block neighbouring Jawali subdivision have announced to boycott the upcoming Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) elections for ignoring their long-standing demand of dividing the existing gram panchayat for creating a new panchayat.

The residents under the banner of the Pargod Sangharsh Samiti had submitted a memorandum to the DC, Kangra, on December 25 apprising him of their decision to boycott the elections scheduled for January 17. No candidate had filed his nominations for the election of ward members in these wards till the last date of filing of nominations on January 2.

Enquiries reveal that Pargod is the existing gram panchayat of these wards, but its panchayat office is being functioned 8 to 13 km away from Lapiyana. As per government guidelines, residents of any panchayat should get panchayat office within 5 km radius.

The residents of these villages who had been struggling in support of their demand for a separate gram panchayat and to accelerate rural development works had organised a rural chaupal (community meeting) a few months ago and constituted the Pargod Sangarsh Samiti.

Mahinder Singh Shastri, president, and Hans Raj Mehta, chief adviser of the samiti, lamented that two buses of the HRTC to these villages had stopped 10 years ago, Batees Meel to Pargod bus service started in 2017 had discontinued after one year and a veterinary dispensary was shifted to Gubbar village.

The residents also organised village chaupal on Tuesday to lodge a protest against the government’s apathy towards their demands.

The DC, Kangra, had also written to the Director, Panchayati Raj, Shimla, on August 28 last year with his recommendation for the division of Pargod gram panchayat in view of the prevailing geographical conditions and more distance between the panchayat office and the villages.