Village in Pithoragarh reached by 27km trek hasn’t seen any neta on campaign trail ever

  • | Tuesday | 26th March, 2019

Pithoragarh: Namik village in Munsyari tehsil of Pithoragarh has not seen a single neta on campaign trail reach the village during parliamentary elections. The village situated 2,700 metres above sea level at the foot of Namik and Hiramani glacier, has 407 voters. Almost 9 km of the trek route is through treacherous and steep terrain.Because no neta comes here, residents say that their village as well as their grievances have been overlooked by politicians. Jamwal recalls that the only time they had seen a politician in the village was in 2014, when Harish Rawat soon after being appointed the chief minister, had reached the village on a chopper to announce a 17 km road to connect the village to the outside world. “From 1951 to 2014, 16 parliamentary elections have been held, but no politician has ever come here to lend an ear to our problems,” said Tulsi Jamwal, gram pradhan of the village.

Pithoragarh: Namik village in Munsyari tehsil of Pithoragarh has not seen a single neta on campaign trail reach the village during parliamentary elections. The village situated 2,700 metres above sea level at the foot of Namik and Hiramani glacier, has 407 voters. In every election, a polling booth is established here and polling parties trek days in advance from the nearest roadhead of Birthi to reach here.However, residents do not recall any neta undertaking the arduous trek required to reach the village.The village is part of Almora parliamentary constituency and is situated 27 km from the nearest roadhead. Almost 9 km of the trek route is through treacherous and steep terrain.Because no neta comes here, residents say that their village as well as their grievances have been overlooked by politicians. “From 1951 to 2014, 16 parliamentary elections have been held, but no politician has ever come here to lend an ear to our problems,” said Tulsi Jamwal, gram pradhan of the village. Jamwal recalls that the only time they had seen a politician in the village was in 2014, when Harish Rawat soon after being appointed the chief minister, had reached the village on a chopper to announce a 17 km road to connect the village to the outside world. “We are still waiting for work to start on the road,” Jamwal said.In 2012, the villagers had threatened to boycott assembly polls asking for road connectivity but that also failed to grab attention, said Laxman Singh, member of Block Development Committee (BDC).To provide connectivity to the village, the government had built a suspension bridge on Ramganga river but floods in the past few years have weakened the structure.The residents have been demanding repair of the bridge but to no avail, said Kushal Singh, former gram pradhan of Namik.When queried why politicians shy away from the village, G S Bhandari, official representative of incumbent Almora MP Ajay Tamta, who is in the race again from the constituency, said, “Namik is a remote village and one would have to spend days reaching it which is not feasible when a candidate is on a tight schedule during campaigning.”

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