Dehradun/Mussoorie/Rudrapur: Upset over delay in construction of a pukka road to their respective villages, scores of villagers across Uttarakhand have threatened to collectively boycott polls this time. The boycott call also underlies the importance of a motorable road in the hills since it is the only means of accessibility and hence a lifeline for thousands of villagers in remote areas.In Chamoli, incensed villagers put up poster asking politicians to stay outFor residents of Sayuni Malli village in Chamoli district of Garhwal, it has been an almost two decade-long wait for a road. The village has around 700 residents who have for the past 19 years been demanding the construction of a six-kilometre-long road which will connect their village to the nearest roadhead. In fact, so incensed are the villagers that they have even pasted a poster at the village’s entrance asking politicians to not enter the village as locals have decided to boycott polls.The villagers’ hopes had been raised in November 2017 when chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat laid the foundation stone for a Rs 3.77 crore road construction project for the village. However, the project has not seen much progress.Speaking to TOI, Dhyan Singh, the husband of gram pradhan Leela Devi, said, “We were told that the tender for the project was to open last month but nothing has happened. A few days back, some forest officials had come to identify the trees which were to be chopped for the project. But no construction has started.”When queried, Chamoli district magistrate Swati Bhadauria said, “The tender for the work has been issued and the project is under process. The villagers had themselves helped the forest department team in identifying the trees which had to be felled for the project.” She added that “it is not possible to complete the project overnight and villagers should realise this.”In Tehri, 9 villages threaten to boycott polls, prepare memorandum for CMResidents of nine villages of Jaunpur block of Tehri district staged a protest on Wednesday at Dimta bend, about 22 km from Mussoorie, alleging they will boycott the upcoming polls. The villagers belonging to Sartali, Kason, Ghandiyala, Kanda Pali, Kuna, Kandiyana, Timliya gaon and Ranogi staged a protest at Dimta bend, about 22 kms from Mussoorie on Wednesday.The protesting villagers also prepared a memorandum for the CM and district magistrate of Tehri Garhwal district“We have been demanding a motorable road to our villages for more than two decades but nobody has taken note of our demands. Therefore, around 1800 voters of our area have decided to boycott the polls this time, ” said Anil Panwar, a resident of Kandiyana gaon.Fed up of false promises of politicians, say villagers in Udham Singh NagarIn Khatola village of Udham Singh Nagar district in Kumaon, which has a population of around 5,000 people, over 2,000 voters have decided to refrain from exercising their franchise in the upcoming polls. The villagers have been demanding construction of a 1.5 kilometre stretch of dilapidated road which connects their village to the main road.The residents have also decided to put up banners after Holi conveying to politicians that they would not cast their vote if the road was not constructed. Saroj Sarkar, a villager who is leading the protest, told TOI that the sitting BJP legislator from Rudrapur assembly constituency Rajkumar Thukral had promised during the 2012 assembly poll campaign that if elected, he would get the connecting road constructed.“During the 2017 assembly polls, too, he repeated the promise and we believed him. We extended support to him and he won by a decent margin. But he has not kept his promise,” said Mandal.Another villager Kharak Singh Kari, an ex-serviceman, said, “We have got to know through RTI that no elected representative gave any proposal to the local or district administration for the construction of this road. However, when contacted they regularly made false promises that the proposal has been sent.”A few days ago, around 8,000 villagers from over 12 villages in Bageshwar, Pithoragarh and Almora districts of Kumaon had also submitted memorandums to their respective district magistrates announcing a poll boycott. The villagers said that ahead of the last elections, politicians had promised them basic facilities such as roads , schools, hospitals and electricity, but despite repeated reminders, none of the things that had been promised had come to pass.(Inputs by Kautilya Singh, Anmol Jain & Aakash Ahuja)

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