People in Dharni boycott ZP polls to protest irrigation project

Nagpur, Feb. 25 (UNI) The people in Dharni tehsil in Amravati district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra have boycotted the forthcoming Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Panchayat Samiti (PS) polls to protesting against a proposed irrigation project there.

Amravati District Collector Ravindra Jadhav told UNI that not a single nomination form was received for the five ZP and ten PS seats in the tehsil, as the deadline for submitting papers passed yesterday.

The people in the tehsil are opposed to the dam being erected at Chichghat, about 10 km from Dharni, on the river Tapi on the grounds that it would submerge several tribal villages in the tehsil, he said.

Mr Jadhav said he had appealed to the people not to boycott the polls as the project was still at the proposal stage and had not been given administrative approval yet. The site for the project had been identified only on the drawing sheet, he said.

The preliminary survey was stopped in July after protests against the proposal, he said. Besides, according to the Irrigation Department only five villages in Maharashtra and 11 in the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh would be submerged, he added.

However, the people have expressed apprehension that several low-lying villages would be submerged as only five villages in Maharashtra identified by the Irrigation Department were located at high altitude, Mr. Jadhav said.

There would be no RPT NO voting in Dharni tehsil on March 11, the day of the ZP and PS polls, since no nominations had been received.

There were strict security arrangements at the tehsil office in Dharni yesterday as protestors gathered there. A 'bandh' was also observed there yesterday as a mark of protest against the project.

UNI