Nalanda villagers threaten to boycott polls over lack of roads

BIHARSHARIF: The call for ‘no road, no vote’ is gaining momentum ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled on May 19, with residents from many villages across Nalanda district threatening to boycott the polls.
Angry over alleged negligence and lack of development, residents of Hafiz Chak village under Silao block of Nalanda district have decided to boycott the polls.
Villagers including students, men, women and children took out a rally holding banners and placard called to boycott polls.They were demanding immediate construction of link road to main road and implementation of facilities under CM Nitish Kumar’s much-hyped ‘seven resolves’ programme.
A well-known physician of the village Dr Siasharan Prasad, who has his clinic at Biharsharif, said, “The village is around 8km from Pawapuri, but it has remained cut off from the main city since Independence due to lack of proper road connectivity. There is no school, no drinking water facility and even no pucca drain. No MLA, MP or minister ever visited the place or heard our grievances.”
Class XII students Asia Kumari and Sudha Kumari said that children are forced to walk 16 km for attending their school at Pawapuri and during rainy season they often miss their classes due to heavy water-logging. Pregnant women are the worst sufferers. People's representatives and government officials have turned a deaf ear to their demands. Ruho Paswan said they face great difficulty in procuring potable water during summer as ‘har ghar nal ka jal’ scheme holds no meaning for them.
Residents of Kaidi Milkipar village under Noorsarai block in Nalanda had recently locked the primary school and anganwadi centre and had refused administration of pulse polio drops to protest lack of road connectivity to Biharsharif which is only 6km away from their village. The administration immediately resolved the issue by promising them their desired road after the election.
Even residents of Ali Nagar locality in Biharsharif, too, had recently announced to abstain from voting due to water scarcity in their locality. Taking the threat seriously, the municipal corporation authorities resolved their problem and a new bore well was dug up.
Meanwhile, residents of Nawaji Bigha village under Hargawan panchayat of Biharsharif block are also peeved over lack of a concrete road from their village to the connecting road, which is around 1.5km. They said that they will not vote.