‘Adarsh gram’ claims fall flat in this seat

Residents of villages under the Kharkhauda (SC) Assembly segment in Sonepat district rue the scarcity of water, supply of brackish water and non-redressal of their long-standing grievances. Unemployment among local youth is another pressing concern and the industrial model township (IMT) sanctioned during the Congress government remains a non-starter.

“There is an acute shortage of drinking as well as irrigation water. The water supplied for drinking is mostly brackish and undrinkable. We have to arrange water for drinking ourselves. Our village has been declared an ‘adarsh gram’, but there is no park or other civic infrastructure which can justify the title,” say Hawa Singh, Kuldeep and Sunil of Sisana village.

Manoj and Parveen of the same village state that the problem of joblessness has reached an alarming level but no concrete steps have been taken to address the issue. The IMT sanctioned during the Congress government is yet to take off.

“The establishment of industrial units at the Kharkhauda IMT would have created some job opportunities for the unemployed youth of the constituency who are dependent on meagre income from agriculture,” they point out. 

Residents of Baiyyanpur village lament that they get very less water for irrigation and their repeated requests have failed to evoke any response from the authorities. 

“We have also been requesting for the shifting of veterinary hospital and having a smooth and levelled path to the cremation ground, but to no avail,” say Lakhi Ram and Kartar Singh of Baiyyanpur.

Total voters 1,59,161
87,361 Men 
71,800 Women

Incumbent MLA Jaiveer Singh, Cong 

Probable candidates 
Cong: Jaiveer Singh
BJP: Pawan, Kuldeep Kakran, Meena Narwal, Pritam Khokhar

Legislatorspeak 
I have tried my best to address the concerns of the residents of my constituency, but the BJP regime has adopted a discriminatory attitude towards the Assembly segment as it is represented by a Congress MLA. —  Jaiveer Singh, Congress

Oppositionspeak 
Many villages of the constituency face shortage of water. Unemployment is another cause for concern. The IMT, rail and road projects touching the constituency will benefit the residents in a big way.— Pawan, BJP leader