INDIA VOTES 2024: Civic issues in Jalandhar take a back seat amid poll din

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, April 1

The focus of political parties and leaders in the pre-election period should ideally be on developmental issues such as inadequate infrastructure, waste management and staff shortages in government schools and hospitals. However, political leaders this time are primarily engaged in promoting their parties and touting their past accomplishments to garner votes, ignoring crucial civic concerns.

Moreover, as leaders continue to switch allegiances to different parties, the predominant buzz these days is only which political party has the edge.

Whether it’s the ruling AAP in Punjab, BJP, SAD or Congress, their leaders have been targeting Opposition parties, engaging in blame game or boasting about past achievements. However, none of them are addressing the core issues or presenting their plans to tackle them.

It’s strange that political leaders traversing through city roads have no qualms in witnessing unattended garbage dumps in every nook and corner, broken roads and non-functional street lights. What’s even more disheartening is that instead of questioning these leaders and parties about important issues and their past actions, voters seem more interested in discussing which political party has the upper hand or is winning this time, rather than what their intentions and plans for the city’s improvement are.

Issues such as poor roads, traffic congestion due to encroachments, waste management, upgrading sports facilities, non-functional community health centres, pollution, cleaning Kala Sanghian drain, corruption-free government offices, employment and affordable education have plagued city residents for decades. Almost every political party that has ruled or is currently in power has made grand promises to address these issues and usher in change, but the ground reality tells a different story.

“More than the political parties or leaders, it’s the voters who are accountable for our present situation,” claimed Manmeet Kaur, a college student. She said a waste management project was proposed in the city back in 2014. However, nothing has been done even after a decade.

“Surprisingly, no one questions so-called elected representatives about their contributions to the city so far,” she said.

Echoing similar sentiments, other residents also expressed their disillusionment with the present political discourse and urged political leaders to fulfil past promises before making new ones.