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Tribune News Service
Dehradun, October 25
The 24-day Gaon Bachao Yatra concluded here today. The rally started from Doiwala in the wee hours and reached the Rangers College ground in Dehradun, from where it proceeded to Gandhi Park amid playing of traditional drums and other musical instruments.
Padma Shri Anil Joshi garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Gandhi Park. He said the betterment of villages has been only on papers so far while the ground reality was totally different. He said wild animal attacks had forced villagers to abandon agriculture, which had been the backbone of the rural economy in hill villages.
Joshi said the time has come to collectively work for the cause of villages, which had been neglected by the politicians. “The Gaon Bachao Yatra criss-crossed villages in Garhwal as well as Kumaon and found the sorry state of affairs of the villages. Around 330 villages of Garhwal and 297 of Kumaon were covered in the 3,300-km yatra,” he said.
Social activist Dwarika Prasad Semwal said the villages in the state had been deprived of development and it was only the liquor that was easily available at every nook and corner of villages. The condition of health and education in the state is pathetic, he said.
Social activist Dr Virendra Painuily expressed gratitude to Joshi for taking out the Gaon Bachao Yatra. He said the yatra was highly successful in highlighting the plight of villages.
A message of the Gaon Bachao Yatra was also read out on the occasion. The message reads villages in the state are in the grip of liquor, land and mining mafia. Political parties were blamed for “ignoring” the villages. It also appealed the ex-servicemen to come forward to save the villages. It also demanded agriculture-centric policies for the villages. A large number of people from across the state were present at Gandhi Park.
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