Lehra: No relief from Ghaggar's misery

Parvesh Sharma

Being located near the Haryana border, the Lehra constituency lacks basic amenities despite its former MLA Rajinder Kaur Bhattal once having become Chief Minister.

Past trend

In the past seven Assembly elections, voters have elected Congress candidates five times, while they have chosen SAD candidates twice. Congress’ Rajinder Kaur Bhattal won five times from 1992 to 2012. She lost to the SAD nominee in 2017.

Electorate strength

Total voters – 1,62,114

Male – 86,982

Female – 75,129

Third gender – 3

Locals’ key demands

• Tackling flooding of Ghaggar
• Health and education facilities
• Sewerage system
• Supply of drinking water

“A majority of the areas are still without basic amenities. The pathetic state of affairs of our area can be gauged from the fact that even in Lehra town, we are not getting proper drinking water supply. Our repeated requests in this regard have fallen on deaf ears. Things are worse in the rural areas,” said Barinder Goyal, patron of the Lehra Vikas Manch.

There are 73 villages and three towns, including Lehra, Khanauri and Moonak, in the constituency. A majority of the areas are without proper roads, sewerage system, water supply and health facilities. Most residents prefer to go to towns in Haryana for their basic needs as Sangrur and Patiala are far away.

The seasonal rivulet Ghaggar and rainwater have also been causing repeated losses in low-lying areas of the constituency. In August 2021, rains damaged standing crops on over 5,400 acres in 43 villages. Earlier a breach in the Ghaggar had caused losses to farmers who alleged that neither they got any government aid nor any action was taken to prevent losses in future.