Eight Lahaul panchayats to boycott elections
Manali: Aggrieved residents of eight panchayats of snow-bound tribal Lahaul valley, who have no road and telephone facilities for a month, have decided to boycott upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Residents of Jahlama, Varpa, Nalda, Jobrang, Gohrma, Shansha, Ranika and Mooring panchayats have written a letter to Lahaul-Spiti deputy commissioner blaming that both government and administration are ignoring them.
The residents have threatened that they will clear snow from roads themselves. They have forwarded a copy of the complaint to the Himachal governor too.
“We are writing with regret that telephone services, emergency helicopter service and BRO’s snow clearing works are completely stopped since February 19 and we did not get any relief despite giving you memorandum two or three times since February 24. It is sad that neither administration nor government is paying heed to our problems. Therefore, we the residents of eight panchyats have decided to boycott Lok Sabha election and we are starting to clear snow from the roads,” the letter reads.
“We are writing with regret that telephone services, emergency helicopter service and BRO’s snow clearing works are completely stopped since February 19 and we did not get any relief despite giving you memorandum two or three times since February 24. It is sad that neither administration nor government is paying heed to our problems. Therefore, we the residents of eight panchyats have decided to boycott Lok Sabha election and we are starting to clear snow from the roads,” the letter reads.
They have also written that if the area continues to be ignored in future, they will put pressure on panchayat representatives to resign from their posts.
According to sources, a few residents had covered a distance of 25km after walking on 4 to 5ft of snow and ignoring avalanche threats to give the memorandum to deputy commissioner at Keylong in February. As the Udaipur-Keylong highway is still blocked with thick layer of snow and there is no phone connectivity in the region, the residents sent the letters with help of police radio message from Jahlama police post.
Pattan is the most populated valley of Lahaul and is considered home to most educated people of the district. The valley is home to many IAS, IPS and other top officers. BSNL is the only service provider in the area but both Shansha and Baring exchanges are not working for a month. The residents blame winter helicopter sorties are not being conducted to their region and BRO is not clearing snow from Keylong-Udaipur road. The valley is already disconnected from the rest of the country since December and residents blame they are disconnected from the valley, relatives and neighbouring for a month now.
When TOI tried to reach Lahaul-Spiti deputy commissioner at Keylong Ashwani Chawdhary, his number was switched off.
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