Chabbewal: Rural areas seek health, road infra

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

This reserved rural constituency came into existence in 2009 with delimitation of constituencies. The poor condition of roads remained the biggest concern for years. However, in the past few months, much stress was laid on recarpeting of existing roads and construction of new ones. The work had barely started when the elections were declared and the code of conduct came into force.

Many roads are awaiting completion. The stretch linking Phagwara road to Sahri village that was built five years ago is in a bad shape. The link road from Bajrawar to Sisoli is also in a shambles.

Rural health centres, too, need attention as most of them have just a nurse or two, but no permanent doctors. At health centres in Jandoli, Sahri, Bathulla, Bichhohi, Sanrangwal, Lalwan, Rampur and other areas, the doctor visits once or twice a week. If the doctor concerned is deployed on some other duty, patients’ wait prolongs. “At Chabbewal, there’s only one doctor. There’s no one to provide medical help during the night. During any emergency, people have to rush to Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur, or private hospitals,” says Satinderjit Singh of Chabbewal.

While some villages have sewerage facility, Chabbewal and several others lack it. The constituency faces problems, despite the fact that development funds allotted to many panchayats remain unspent. Mining is also a major issue bothering the people of the area.

Locals’ key demands

• 24×7 availability of doctors
• Sewerage facility
• Construction of roads
• Check on illegal mining

Past trend

Chabbewal was part of the Mahilpur segment with SAD’s Sohan Singh Thandal as its MLA. The new Assembly segment came into existence in 2009. Chabbewal voters elected Thandal in the 2012 Assembly polls. In 2017, the Congress won the elections.

Electorate strength

Total voters: 1,60,928

Male: 83,880

Female: 77,043

Third gender: 5