Facing bijli-sadak-pani problem, diara' village decides to stop BJP leaders' entry

Claiming to be deprived of basic civic amenities of power, water and roads even after 70 years of independence, the people of a diara' village in Ballia district on Tuesday vowed to ban entry of BJP leaders to their hamlet.

They also threatened to boycott the next assembly elections if their grievances are not resolved.

A diara' village is located on an island inside a river. The Ganga river has many such villages located on islands in them all along its route in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

We are still facing the Bijli-Sadak-Pani (BSP) problem even after 70 years of independence, we have decided not to allow BJP MPs, MLAs and other leaders into our village for their failure to rid us of this BSP' problem, said Ram Babu Gond, a resident of Firangi Tola of Chand 'diara' village under Bairia police station in the district.

Newly elected village head Vinod Yadav, however, said he would try to resolve the people's problems by meeting public representatives soon.

Firangi Tola has a population of about 700 and people here on Tuesday staged a demonstration and put up placards declaring their decision to bar BJP leaders from entering their village unless they are provided with the basic civic amenities.

"Even after seven decades of independence, there are no paved roads. People here have to trudge along unpaved muddy roads or even in the knee-deep or waist-deep water in rainy season to reach the nearest road head to visit the city, Gond said.

Electric poles were installed in the village years ago but they have neither the transmission lines nor transformers to electrify the village till now, he added.

If immediate action is not taken on our demand, we have also decided to boycott the upcoming assembly elections, Gond said.

Yadav, the head of Chand diara gram panchayat, said, "It is true that the ray of development has not reached us so far. The village has unpaved roads and people are living without electricity."

He said he has been elected for the first time and will try to meet people's representatives so that the village can get rid of its problems.

The village is a part of the Bairia Vidhan Sabha constituency, represented by BJP MLA Surendra Singh.

Singh said he was not aware of the decision taken by the people of the village regarding the BJP leaders.

He claimed he has done a lot of work to provide road and power to several villages during his tenure but it is not possible to get these amenities for every village.

He, however, promised that he would try to ensure that the common people do not face the problem of road and electricity.

SDM Prashant Kumar Nayak said the administration will take action to resolve the villagers' problems.

The villagers' grievances would be resolved by contacting officials of concerned departments, he added.