Gandhi Nagar, Ram Nagar residents decide to boycott AAP, Congress

Jalandhar, April 23

Residents of Ram Nagar and Gandhi Nagar today held a protest over non-fulfillment of their long-pending demand of a railway underbridge in their locality.

Protesters said their colonies were surrounded by railway lines and drains, affecting their connectivity with adjoining areas, thus there was a dire need of a railway underbridge to be constructed there for better access.

They claimed that despite having held a number of protests in the past and during the Congress regime, and submitted memorandum to ministers, MLAs, MPs and the CM, neither the past nor the present government had done anything to resolve their issue.

Problem of poor access for past 80 yrs

The area is cut off from all four sides. We have been struggling with the problem of poor access for the past 80 years. When any emergency arises in the area, people face a lot of inconvenience to go out of the locality due to the closure of the railway crossings. —Suraj Birdi, Protester

They announced that they would boycott the Congress and AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha bypoll, as both the parties had failed to take up their issue with the railways.

Suraj Birdi, a resident of the locality said area residents had been struggling with the problem of poor access for the past 80 years. “The area is cut off from all four sides. While one side is covered by Bist Doab Canal, another is covered by DAV Institutions. The third side is covered by the busy Amritsar railway line and the fourth one is covered by the Ferozepur railway line,” he added.

He said when any emergency arises in the area, people face a lot of inconvenience due to the closure of the railway crossings to go out of the locality.

Ashwani Sharma, another resident, said the area councillor had also failed to take up their issue with the local body. “A team of the PWD had visited their localities and sought Rs 2 lakh from the Municipal Corporation to engage technical consultants for preparing the drawing, carrying out feasibility and soil investigation. However, more than a year has elapsed, but payment has not been made to the PWD. Officials concerned are not realising the seriousness of the issue and dilly-dallying it”, he added.