Himachal CM’s wife in saddle, Dehra hopes to regain lost sheen

Raghav Guleria

Dharamsala, July 28

One of the oldest tehsils of Kangra district, Dehra has risen to prominence with Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, getting elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from here.

“My brothers and sisters in Dehra have left no stone unturned in supporting me and now it is time to listen to their grievances and find a solution to their problems,” Kamlesh Thakur, who arrived in her constituency on a three-day tour after taking oath, told The Tribune.

As she had highlighted during the election campaign, three issues of road connectivity, drinking water and electricity would be her priority.

People of Dehra, particularly the town residents, were upbeat over the state Cabinet’s decision of setting up a new police district with its headquarters at Dehra and filling up of 39 posts of different categories. Besides, the jurisdiction of Rakkar police station has been transferred from the Jwalamukhi SDPO to Dehra SDPO.

The state government has also decided to upgrade police posts at Dadasiba and Majheen as police stations under SDPO, Dehra, and SDPO, Jwalamukhi, respectively. The move is being seen as a step in the direction of making Dehra a district.

During her three-day visit, newly elected MLA Kamlesh Thakur got a rousing welcome from the people who were anxiously waiting for her arrival.

On day 1, she started from Mareda-Mariyari and was at Haripur listening to people’s grievances the next day. The people came in a large number with their demands and the newly elected MLA gave a patient hearing to them.

On the last day, she reached Masrur village, known for its monolith temple. Here, too, a large number of people arrived with applications in hand as they had high expectations from the CM’s wife.

Political experts feel that Dehra has regained its political significance and can even be a hometurf for Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu whose ancestral village also falls in Dehra.

Ramesh who runs a small shop in Dehra said, “The people are upbeat as they have found a new hope with backing of the CM’s office. This has happened after the area remained ignored for decades due to the lack of a strong political will.”

Earlier, the shifting of offices out of Dehra and the opening of new tehsils on its periphery in Haripur, Rakkar, Pragpur, Dadasiba and Jwalaji had resulted in undermining the socio-political importance of the constituency in general and the town in particular.