Villagers, shopkeepers protest blockage of drain

Our Correspondent

Jagraon, August 11

Shopkeepers and a large number of residents of Sidhwan Bet and Salempura villages staged a protest against the local administration today. Protesters were annoyed over the continuous failure of the local administration to clean the blocked drain on the Sidhwan Bet-Salempura road.

They raised slogans against the administration and also blocked traffic on the Jagraon-Jalandhar highway for one hour. Disruption of the traffic caused inconvenience to commuters.

Shopkeepers and villagers claimed that the dirty water got accumulated on the road due to the chocked drain, which caused a lot of problems. Villagers said they had been facing the problem for a long time. “The administration has failed to solve the issue despite their repeated requests,” they added.

While addressing protesters, Salempura village sarpanch Rajwinder Singh said the administration was not serious in solving their problem. “We have requested the local administration on several occasions, but to no avail. We even submitted a written complaint in this regard a few days ago, but the administration has failed to act. We are forced to stage a protest and block the highway,” he said.

Meanwhile, the highway blockade by protestors sent the authorities in a tizzy. Soon a police team led by the Sidhwan Bet SHO, Paramjit Singh, reached the spot and diverted the traffic through alternative routes.

Block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) Amrinder Singh also reached the spot after some time and spoke to protesters.

The dharna was lifted only after the administration drained out water from the road and assured protesters to get the chocked drain cleaned within a few days.