Dhandari Khurd youth to boycott poll

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 17

Infuriated over poor sanitary conditions in their area, a group youngsters and residents of Dhandari Khurd in Ward No. 28 have announced to boycott the coming Lok Sabha (LS) poll. They blamed their elected representatives for failing to address their issues for a long time. They said no political party should visit their area to ask for votes.

“Due to poor sanitary conditions in the area, relatives often avoid visiting our home. Even our marriage proposals are turned down because of such unlivable conditions as streets remain flooded with sewage. Our elected MP or MLA has never paid any attention to our problems. Why should we vote for them when our voice is always ignored?” said residents of Dhandari Khurd.

The situation was quite similar during tenure of the SAD-BJP government, they added. Even after the Congress came to power, residents claimed they had seen no improvement in living conditions in their area. They blamed the successive governments for always ignoring their issues.

“Diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, skin infections, dengue and other diseases are reported every year from our area. Many persons suffer from skin infections when they come in contact with sewer water in streets,” they said.

“We are fed up with false promises of elected representatives. We are a group of 100 to 150 youngsters, who have decided to boycott these elections. We are forced to live in hell like conditions as the sanitation is poor in our area,” said Kamlesh of Dhandari Khurd.

“We have prepared pamphlets and posters to appeal to people to join our movement,” he added.

“We have appealed to elected representatives and the MC authorities many times but problems in our area remain unsolved. We have also protested but to no avail. We will support the call to boycott the elections,” said Sukhwinder Singh, another youth from the area.