Punjab villagers want politicians to keep their word

Chanawala (Ferozepur), April 1 (ANI): Once again it's election time and residents of Chananwalla Village on the India-Pakistan border in Punjab are debating which political party should they believe in for promoting their welfare.

The village, which falls under the Ferozepur district, is faced with problems of lack of irrigation facilities and basic amenities like electricity and potable water. Every election time, these problems haunt residents here.

Farming is the main source of livelihood in this village. People's main demand here is that they should get adequate and timely electricity and water for irrigation.

Punjab's Jalalabad and Fazilka are the two Tehsils (administrative division of a district) that are faced with shortage of irrigation water. And, Chananwala village, which falls under Fazilka Tehsil, is also faced with acute shortage of canal water for irrigation.

"Governments have changed many a times. But every time the candidates contesting the elections promise us irrigation facilities throughout the year. However, till date nothing has been done. We are not able to do farming properly. With enough water, rice yields would have been better. We are supposed to get canal water for six months but even that has been stopped. Since our village is at the tail end, water does not even reach our fields properly," said Amit Kumar, a farmer.

According to the elderly people in this village, they recall that politicians comes to their village during elections, make promises but once they win the seat they tend to forget everything.

"When politicians come, they simply say that we will do this and that for you. But we get nothing. Last time they promised , we will get 25,000 rupees each and even a house. But we got nothing," said Budh Ram, a villager.

Davinder Singh, the former village head of the Chananwala village is bitter that no effort has been made to improve conditions in the village.

"We have no facilities in our village. Our village was to be the focal point. The politicians who promised us helped some other village. We were even ready to donate some of our land but even then the focal point was not made in our village," said Davinder Singh.

Villagers believe that the poverty-stricken may get attention of the political candidates at least after this election. By Avtar Gill(ANI)