Trinath
Port Blair, Mar 27: Piqued over administrative neglect for the past several decades, villagers of Prafulla Nagar, Ward no. 1 of Basantipur Panchayat have again decided to boycott the local body elections scheduled to be held next month. The last Panchayat elections, none from the village filed nominations for the Panchayat ward member elections and neither did vote in the elections demanding basic amenities like roads, drinking water and other infrastructural facilities first.
According to reports, the villagers of Prafulla Nagar have been facing administrative neglect for the past 50 years of the village settlement. The village lacks various basic amenities like concrete roads, drinking water supply, bridges/pools over water bodies etc. Offended over the apathy exhibited by the administration over the years, villagers last year completely boycotted the local body elections.
“Prafulla Nagar village is a classic case of administrative neglect. Even 50 years after the villages settled here, the administration has visibly failed to provide basic facilities owing to which the residents have been put up with extreme hardships. For lack of concrete roads and pools over water bodies, students face a tough time to reach their schools. Some government officials visited the village last year after the election boycott and assured to provide basic facilities in the village in six months. The period has lapsed and the administration has continued to remain indifferent towards the plight of the villagers of Prafulla Nagar,” say villagers.
According to reports, the last date for filing nominations for the bye elections of Gram Panchayat Member Constituency of Basantipur Gram Panchayat under Mayabunder Tehsil has crossed but none of the villagers have filed any nomination for the local body election. “The villagers have been facing hardships for the last several years and they have already decided to boycott the polls in April 2016 for the second consecutive time. They have been living in awful conditions for the last 50 years and unless the administration provides basic facilities for the villagers, it appears that the election boycott will continue even this time,” says a villager of Billyground.
