SHILLONG: Disgruntled residents of a village in Huroi village, East Jaintia Hills (EJH) District and the Village Dorbar Executive Committee decided to boycott the upcoming Assembly election 2018 with a “No road, no vote” slogan unless their demands are met by the state government.
In a press statement issued here, secretary of Huroi village, Poly Pohlong stated “The people of Huroi village feel neglected and betrayed by the MLA, MDC and MP and also the government.”
He added, “We are being used just for the purpose of votes in election and all MLA, MDC and MP disappear after the election leaving us in the bane of underdevelopment.”
Confronted with various developmental deficiencies, the village located at the Bangladesh border is struggling with dilapidated condition of Sonapur-Borkhat Road.
Ridiculing the state government over bad road condition, Pohlong said, “The Government should conduct the election during the rainy season, then only they might understand our problem.”
The residents are peeved at the unavailability of a Primary Health Centre nearby, poses a problem for them as at present the nearest PHC is in Umkiang Village which is 60 kms from Huroi village.
He mentioned that village authority and local youths have time and again met the Deputy Commissioner EJH, the PWD (R) official, the Chief Secretary to press for the construction of the road and to sanction a primary health centre (PHC) for the village
“However, even after many meetings and 70th year of Independence, the Government of Meghalaya and our local representatives have betrayed,” he added.
Asserting that they are “tired of the attitude of the government”, Pohlong said, “Therefore, our village which has more than 800 votes will not participate in the coming Assembly Election 2018 to protest against the attitude of the government towards us.”
The residents have stated that they will withdraw their decision once the government fulfills their three demands.
Firstly, the residents demanded that the PWD(R) should take up necessary repairs of the Sonapur-Borkhat road so as to make it at least motorable.
Secondly, they demanded that government should ensure that Rymbai-Borkhat-Jalalpur road project which is pending in the North Eastern Council, gets approval before the end of this year and work should be started at the earliest.
Thirdly, they demanded that the Huroi sub-centre should be upgraded to a Primary Health Centre to cater to the need of the people in the villages and nearby villages.
“We want to participate in the election but when the government does not want us to develop. We have to take this step. We hope the government will wake up now,” Pohlong said.
Pohlong said that the letters and directions had come many times from the Central government and also the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to address our grievances but the government was still deaf and blind to our problems and had given only falls promises.
He added that the other village Lailong, Hingari and Lejri were yet to decide on this issue who he observed shared the same concern and problem.
The PWD proposed for construction of the Rymbai-Borkhat-Jalalpur road with an estimate of Rs. 94 crores to the North Eastern Council, Government of India way back in the year 2011.
The residents claimed that state government did not take any steps to make this project take off and till date the NEC did not give approval because the State Government did not submit the documents required.
Pohlong claimed that the PWD had assured them that work would start soon but he said, “No work, no survey has been conducted till date.”
There was also a proposal from the PWD to the NEC Khliehriat with an estimate value of Rs. 64 crores in the year 2016 to repair the road, but the state government did not approve the proposal, he said.