Battling water woes of worst kind, 5 UP villages boycott elections

Facing acute water shortage throughout the year owing to government apathy, voters of five villages in the Jhansi-Lalitpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh have threatened to boycott elections on April 29.

Villagers complain that the administration has failed to make use of various water sources and dams present in the region, forcing five villages in this district to face the worst water crisis every year.

They say the situation has also triggered migration of families to nearby urban centres.

"The villagers of Lalaun, Gulenda, Chakra, Kasa and Rajpur in Jhansi-Lalitpur constituency have decided to boycott the elections on April 29," Mahendra Singh, a villager from Gulenda, told PTI.

These five villages have about 5,000 voters, he says.

Singh says villagers are often forced to remain awake throughout the night, awaiting their turn to use hand pumps to fetch a bucket of water.

Lalitpur district comes under the Jhansi-Lalitpur seat which goes to polls on April 29. The area under the Bundelkhand region is prone to draughts and poor groundwater level as it has a predominant granite base, which does not allow recharging of groundwater.

The Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh has four parliamentary seats, including Jhansi-Lalitpur, and 19 assembly constituencies. All these seats are currently held by the ruling BJP.

Call it irony, Lalitpur district has 13 dams to harness seven rivers which flow through the region.

"We have decided not to vote in the elections. We have been seeking a solution to our water issues, but the district administration has been passing the buck," Singh says.

He says a solution is not difficult as there is a rivulet which catches seepage water from Rajghat canal, making it brimming with water throughout the year.

"We are seeking a small lift canal (where water is pumped from lower area to canal on a higher land) from that rivulet to be brought here. It will help recharge groundwater and also solve our irrigation problem," says the villager.

Singh, who works as a contractor in Lalitpur district, says a survey was conducted to bring water from the rivulet by the previous Samajwadi Party government, but no progress was made in the matter under the present Yogi Adityanath government.

These villages also have a large concentration of Saharia