No Road, No Vote: Three Panchayats In Tirtol To Boycott By-poll

Tirtol: After Nandachaka village in Balasore, the residents of three panchayats under Tirtol block in Jagatsinghpur district have decided to boycott the upcoming by-election to the Assembly constituency.

The residents of Gopalpur, Baritola and Katara panchayats are reportedly angry over the pathetic condition of roads in their villages.

The development comes at a time when high voltage campaigns by various political parties are underway in the Tirtol Assembly constituency which will go to polls on November 3.

The residents of the villages have alleged that though the canal road connecting their villages to the main road has been damaged, nothing has been done to repair the road despite several requests to the authorities.

“The condition of the road is so pathetic that we are not even able to walk on it, forget about using any vehicles. Elections do not make any difference to our lives though governments come and go. That is why all of us have decided to boycott the upcoming by-election as a mark of protest,” said Hadibandhu Swain, a resident of Gopalpur.

“We have been drawing the attention of the administration about our plight several times since last 30 years, but got only false assurances. Our children are going to schools on that road. The critical patients face a real hard time while going to the medical. We have lost our faith in the administration,” said another resident of Gopalpur, Ramesh Parida.

Earlier, Nandachaka village in Parikhi Panchayat under Balasore Sadar block have also decided to boycott the by-election for the Assembly constituency.

(Edited by Ramakant Biswas)