Delhi elections 2015: Shunned by parties, Jhangola village will boycott polls

NEW DELHI: Eighteen-year-old Jyoti, a resident of Jhangola village, walks 5km every day to reach her college in Bakhtawarpur. The road is always deserted, devoid of any streetlight, which makes it unsafe for women and the elderly to walk back home once it is dark. Public transport is totally non-existent here.

Peeved at the empty promises of the political class, residents of Jhangola village have decided to boycott the February 7 elections. They claim that not a single party campaigned in their area for this assembly election.

"It is the same situation every time. They (politicians) come during the elections, make false promises and then never visit us. This year no one has come to campaign for the polls. We are not going to vote for any of them," said Diwan Singh, a resident.

The village has only one primary school. There are no healthcare facilities in Jhangola—the nearest hospital is in Bakhtawarpur. "I have to walk every day. Nothing has been done so far. I feel unsafe while coming back from my college. I don't know when the government will pay some attention to our village," said Jyoti.

Jhangola village in northwest Delhi comes under the Narela assembly constituency. It houses nearly 3,000 voters but successive governments have turned a blind eye to their problems. The main entrance to the village from the highway is always waterlogged. "We walk this road every day to go to our farms. We have been facing the waterlogging problem for the past three-four years. We don't have any other option but to walk on this dirty stretch," said Gurvinder Singh, a villager.

Residents claim they have been neglected because theirs is the village where only the Sikh community lives. "Our ancestors came from Pakistan during the Partition and we are still paying the price," Gurvinder added.

"Neighbouring villages like Muhammadpur, Kushak, Majra and Tigipur have all the basic amenities. The main road doesn't have streetlights. Tell me how are we supposed to go at night if there is any emergency?" said Iqbal Singh, another villager.

There is no park or playground for children either. Kids have to go to the nearby villages, which have been allotted parks. "There are no parks in our village. There is a park in Tigipur and we go there sometimes to play," said seven-year-old Rahul.

Villagers claim that the sitting MLA from BJP, Neel Daman Khatri, has not visited the village in the last several months. Khatri was unavailable for comment.

The residents also complain that there is no cremation ground and that they go through a tough time when someone dies in the village.