Uttarkashi politicians urge Daang villagers to vote

DEHRADUN: Politicians and officials converged at

Daang village

of Uttarkashi on Monday in order to convince villagers who had decided to boycott polls because they had received no help in construction of road to their village. After a lot of dilly-dallying by officials who claimed that road construction required felling of trees, the villagers had gone ahead with constructing a portion of the road themselves in order to prove a point. They had also threatened to boycott the polls "in order to teach politicians who made tall promises a lesson." After meeting leaders of Congress and BJP as well as district administration officials, villagers' representatives said they will deliberate on their decision to boycott the polls.

Abhishek Jagoodi leading the agitation in Daang village said, "The villagers vent out their anger and frustration on the Congress candidate

Vijay Pal Singh Sajwan

and BJP candidate Gopal Singh Rawat when they came to plead to vote for them. The villagers scolded them saying that these leaders never came to their support in their demand for a road so they now have no right to ask for votes as well. The candidates returned with pulled faces."

Gopal Singh Rawat of BJP said that he was sympathetic towards people of Daang and assured them that the party would make all possible efforts to assuage their concerns. He expressed hope that people would vote for BJP on the voting day.

However it is the district administration which has got somewhat successful in atleast making people to rethink their decision. Sub-divisional magistrate Nitika Khandelwal said, "I am sure that People of Daang would forget about their issues and participate in the voting process. I made them understand that they should vote in the election to demand for their rights." She said that she visited the site and appreciated the hard work put in by the villagers to get the length of the road made and extended support for the remaining patch.