Govind Sharma
CHHAMB: There is strong resentment among the people of Chhamb Assembly constituency against ex-MLA Dr Krishan Lal Bhagat as on the name of development, only few roads were blacktopped in over 3 years while in several other areas, people are living in miserable conditions due to lack of basic amenities.
This came to the fore during the random survey conducted by EXCELSIOR team in various parts of the constituency recently. Though the people of low lying areas, which are mostly near the International Border, expressed satisfaction over basic amenities like power and water supply, road connectivity besides lanes and drains in their area yet they have other issues to raise like occupation of their agricultural land by the Army and restriction on their movement in fields close to the border.
Bhagwan Sharma of Pargwal said people of this whole belt along border are dependent on small canals (Suas) originating from main Ranbir Canal for irrigating their fields but these ‘Suas’ have not been de-silted since long. He said in June last year, he led a delegation to Dr Krishan Lal (the then MLA) requesting him to ensure de-silting of all ‘Suas’ but to their surprise he made fun of them, saying: “You 10 people came to me from Pargwal but if you would have lifted the spades themselves, you would have de-silted all Suas till now”.
He said that only patch work has been carried out on majority of the roads which were damaged in 2014 floods. “Earlier, we used to reach in 15 minutes from Pargwal to Sua No 1 on two-wheelers but today the condition of the road is so pathetic that we find it difficult to cover the same distance even in 45 minutes,” Sharma added.
“Since 1999 agricultural land, which is the only means of livelihood for large number of people, remains under the occupation of Army and fenced with barbed wire that too at a long distance of four kilometers from the border”, he said, adding “Army men have imposed restrictions on our movement due to which we are unable to protect our crops from stray animals. Moreover, for last two years, we did not receive any compensation for our land from the Army”, said Subhash Chander, a resident of Gard Sainth, adding “the issue was flagged before the former MLA a number of times but, in turns, only assurances were received.”
Budhi Singh, a resident of Pallanwala said that people of the area had taken up the issue of widening of Jourian to Pallanwalla road with the former MLA but no step was initiated to meet the requirements of the people although it was not difficult for the former MLA to get the work sanctioned especially when there was BJP Government in the State as well as in Centre.
He also complained of no proper de-silting of irrigation khuls. “Ours is a model village but there is no such facility, which a model village should have. There is no community hall, no street lights and the lanes and drains are also in worst conditions. Moreover, the main drain of the Pallanwala market remains choked”.
“In PHC Pallanwala, there is no facility; even postmortem is done in open by raising curtains. Office of Agriculture Department fails to provide farmers good seeds,” he complained.
Tarsem Singh Choudhary, a shopkeeper of Panjtoot said even a single old age pension case has not been cleared in last 4 years by the administration and due to slackness of ex-MLA, no school of the constituency has been upgraded in his over three years rule. However, he lauded the MLA for blacktopping one km long road to Mohalla Chowdhary and two km road from Panjtoot to Thangar.
“Jougwan-Dhakar Bridge on Manawar Tawi was washed away in 2014 flash floods but it is yet to be restored”, he said.
Children of Sailanwali and surrounding villages (on this side of Tawi) studying in Government Higher Secondary School, Dhakar are the worst sufferers due to collapse of bridge as they have to travel 6-7 kilometres on foot to reach the school,” said Som Raj, a resident of Sailanwali.
The people of Jougwan expressed displeasure over poor health facilities at PHC Jougwan. “PHC Jougwan has a two-storey building but there are no doctors and no diagnostic facilities. One BMO has been appointed but he comes twice a week while there are only 2 paramedics and one lab assistant. Even X-ray facility is not available and people are being compelled to go to PHC Pallanwala,” said Aman Kumar, an ITI student belonging to the area.
He also expressed resentment over lack of public transport to his village. “Few mini-buses ply from Akhnoor to our village as such leading to overloading”, he added.
People of Kalah also accused the ex-MLA of not taking up any development work in their area. Vinu Sharma, a student of the village said that a hospital building was constructed in his village about 4-5 years back but it is locked since its completion due to unknown reasons.
Ramesh Kumar of village Narayana complained that no lanes were constructed or repaired in last over three years. “Though a 2-km road from Janiwala to Sarmala was blacktopped in this period but 3-km road from Patyari to Dhara road is still ‘kutcha’. Ramesh said in last over three years, no Janta Darbar was conducted by Dr Krishan in their area.
Mohan Lal of Dagera said people of this area are facing huge scarcity of water. Regular water supply is still a dream for the people of this area. The roads are also in worst condition, as big potholes have erupted on them, he added. Ram Pal of Malla Parod also shared similar views on water supply and condition of road. He said if an MLA cannot provide good roads and proper water supply what else we can expect from him.
The people of Khour Town said that only a Sulabh Sauchalaya was inaugurated in the area during Dr Krishan’s tenure as MLA. However, a local youth of the town, Manjeet Singh said, “being municipal area, Khour Town has every facility-good roads, well maintained lanes and drains, road side park, better education and health facilities, etc”.
Ashok Singh of Lower Nandwal said many toilets were constructed in the area on the initiative of ex-MLA and only few houses are left. Some lanes were also tiled in his term, besides installation of a hand pump. He said people of the area are satisfied with Dr Krishan’s performance.
Inhabitants of Troti and Chak Malal also seemed to be annoyed with the ex-MLA. Bachchan Singh, an ex-Army man of Troti said that as their agricultural land is along a vast seasonal nallah, they approached the then MLA and requested him for construction of a flood protection bandh but got only assurances. Rashpal Singh of Chak Malal alleged that no work has been done in his area and the main road is also in worst condition.
Highlighting woes of people of his area, Kaku Ram of Khwada Gajuan said to reach Sailanwali-Akhnoor road they have to cross many seasonal nallahs, on which there are no culverts/bridges. In rainy season, due to flood in these nallahs, students fail to reach their schools/colleges and employees to their work places. He said there is also acute shortage of drinking water.
“Though there are some dug wells but in summer season, they go dry. People get some buckets of water through tanker supply but on alternate days,” he added and accused the ex-MLA, Dr Krishan of ignoring the area completely.
However, Dr Krishan Lal Bhagat, when contacted, said that in his short stint, many roads, which were either ‘kutcha’ or damaged have been blacktopped. Gulaba to Dori Dagera, Dageri to Khadah and Mallah to Jougwan are a few to name, he added. Besides this, he said many large and small culverts on canals and seasonal nallahs were constructed during his tenure.
Listing his achievements as MLA, Dr Krishan Lal said that his biggest achievement is beginning construction work of Bridge on Chenab River at Pargwal with an estimated cost of Rs 206 crore and another bridge with a cost of Rs 15 crore on Manawar Tawi at Baldoh.
The ex-MLA said in a small period of 3 and half years, he sanctioned funds for many community halls in various parts of the constituency. “Many community bathrooms, cremation sheds and buildings of schools were constructed and many power transformers upgraded in this period while the work on construction of community bunkers at Pallanwala and Pargwal sectors is underway,” he claimed.
In Health sector, Dr Krishan Lal said he provided Rs 15 lakh from his CDF for ultrasound facility at CHC Khour and Rs 10 lakh for X-Ray facility at PHC Pargwal. Moreover, he said on the demand of the people of border areas of Pallanwala and Pargwal, he provided 2 bullet proof ambulances, one for each area so that in case of firing, people could be safely evacuated from these border areas.
“Many LPG connections were distributed free of cost to the beneficiaries under Ujjawala Yojana and scooties were given to many physically handicapped people,” the ex-MLA said. He further claimed that documents of all widows and old age people, who were deprived of Government pension, have been submitted to the concerned authorities for release of pension.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
