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Even as political parties are busy giving last-minute touches to their campaigns in Himachal Pradesh, which goes to the polls on May 7, voters in Nalagarh are threatening to boycott the elections.
A broken stretch of road of about 20 km from Nalagarh to Swarghat in Bilaspur district, awaiting repair for the past 10 years, is the reason behind the threat. The locals have decided not to cast their votes if work to repair the road is not started by May 5.
There are 18 panchayats on this stretch of road, with an estimated 30,000 voters. In the absence of repair, the stretch, part of Baddi-Bilaspur National Highway 21 A, has led to hardships for residents of surrounding villages, as well as industries in neighbouring areas.
The road serves an urban population of about 5,000 on a daily basis. The Baddi, Nalagarh, Barotiwala and Ramgarh Assembly constituencies, with a total population of about 250,000, are also dependent on the road.
“While the dust and pollution have led to respiratory diseases, we are also facing socio-economic problems,” says Hardeep Singh Bawa, a resident of Soari Bhoomia village in Nalagarh. “Our industries are suffering, as the movement of trucks, etc, is hampered. Hundreds of vehicles travel on this road, mainly because of industrial activities. But successive governments have not acted on our demand,” says Vinod Khurana, president of the Nalagarh Industry Association. He adds Nalagarh alone has about 1,000 industrial units, which have been directly hit due to the dismal condition of the road.
The Assembly constituencies in question fall under the Shimla Lok Sabha seat, for which seven candidates are contesting this time. Of them, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s sitting MP, Virender Kashyap, and the Congress’s Mohan Bragta are considered the frontrunners.
Traditionally, the Shimla Lok Sabha seat has been a Congress bastion. From 1980 to 1998, the party’s K D Sultanpuri had won from here. In 1999, Sultanpuri was defeated by Dhani Ram Shandil of the Himachal Vikas Congress, which later merged with the Congress. As a Congress candidate, Shandil won the seat in 2004, defeating the BJP’s H N Kashyap by about 10,000 votes. In 2009, the BJP’s Kashyap won the seat, defeating Shandil by about 200,000 votes. At that time, the BJP had won three seats, while current chief minister Virbhadra Singh (Mandi) was the lone winner from the Congress.
People in Nalagarh and Baddi believe this time, the dismal condition of the Nalagarh-Swarghat stretch of road could affect the outcome of the elections here. “If the road isn’t repaired, we will go on hunger strike and call for a chakka jaam,” said a resident.
