Nishikant Khajuria
Deprived of required attention and development in respect of all spheres, the Chenani-Ghordi Assembly constituency in Udhampur district seems to have lost all hopes from their elected representative.
It’s virtually ineffective MLA Krishan Chander Bhagat who is representing the area since 2008.
The state of road connectivity, health services and education in the constituency is in shambles while a number of developmental projects are gathering dust due to ill-planned and delayed execution of work thus ultimately resulting into wasteful expenditure of the Government money.
The extremely poor condition of road network keeps the entire Ghordi area virtually cut from Tehsil headquarters and District headquarters thus subjecting the locals to a lot of problems, including no medical treatment during emergency hours, explained Hans Raj. “Due to non availability of adequate medical facilities and doctors particularly Gynecologist and extremely poor road conditions, a number of pregnant women die in these remote village, he lamented.
Ghordi area, which comprises 17 Panchayats with more than 20 thousand population, has extremely poor road connectivity. The entire 40-km stretch from Udhampur to Kaldi and then Barrain to Ghordi is in bad condition. Only 17 kilometer stretch, out of 25 kms long Gujararh Pul Madha to Chirdi-Kither road under PMGSY, has been completed during the last seven years. Similarly Nagolta-Tandar road under PMGSY is also incomplete.
Even after 65 years of independence, a number of villages and hamlets in Chenani constituency are yet to be electrified. These include Barnek near Mantalai under Sarad Panchayat, Chaiyan in Panchayat Kosar, Ghorha Nallah, Kothi Bai, Talpad, Sandha, Chappad etc.
Shortage of teachers and inadequate infrastructure in Government Schools is a very common phenomenon. In entire Dudu and Latti, there is no Government Girls High school with the result that a number of girls are forced to drop the idea of further studies after class 8th as some parents hesitate to send their wards in co-education institutions. The locals took up this issue several times with the MLA who did nothing in this regard except making assurances, said Mohd Akram.
What to say of far off and remote areas of the constituency, even the Tehsil headquarters and main centre Chenani lacks basic facilities notwithstanding more than 40 thousand population of the town and around 10 thousand floating population from the adjoining areas.
The situation can be well understood from the fact that the entire town has not even a single Toilet complex for general public despite a longstanding demand of the locals in this regard and immediate requirement of the same, rued Rajesh Gupta, a young social activist who runs a medical store in the Chenani main bazar.
A Hostel complex for boys and girls at Latti, which was constructed more than a decade ago by then Union Minister of State for Defence and local MP Prof Chaman Lal Gupta from his Constituency Development Fund, is of no use till date owing to no bathroom facility and boundary wall there.
Despite repeated requests to the MLA for making this hostel building functional by getting funds sanctioned for boundary wall and bathroom facility, nothing has been done in this regard, said Fareed.
Non-availability of doctors and Para-Medical Staff in the Health Centres is a common phenomenon. Even at the Sub-District Hospital Chenani, doctors attend the duties on rotational basis for their own convenience resulting into inconvenience to patients, particularly in emergency.
Due to incomplete new hospital building of Latti Primary Health Centre, facilities like X-ray and Ultrasound are not getting started there despite sanction of the same. For the last two years, no contractor is coming forward for the pending work of this incomplete structure for the reasons best known to the concerned authorities. This PHC caters to the population of more than 50 thousand spread in the adjoining areas, including Pachouan, Dudu, Kirchi, Bapp, Pattan etc but the facilities are inadequate.
The situation is worse in the Health Sub-Centres like that of Parla Chappar where a Sweeper was running the institution for the last several years. Despite a long pending demand for a Medical Assistant there, the Government has recently posted a Multi-purpose Health Worker.
Lackluster approach of the MLA and Government authorities towards issues of immediate attention can be further gauged from the fact that building of Government Primary School Sarar got damaged more than eight months back due to shooting stones and since then the students are having classes in open as no work for repair of the school has been initiated till date while village Satyalta in Manara Devi Panchayat was without electricity for the last more than three months as the transformer had not been repaired by the concerned authorities.
Despite being at par with neighbouring Himachal Pradesh in scenic natural beauty with additional feature of surrounding places of high religious significance, the areas like Sudhmahadev, Mantalai, Latti, etc have been deprived of required attention and development for becoming a tourist destination.
Surrounded by lush green deodar forests, these areas offers great views of the mountain landscape in the surroundings and the breathtaking views of natural beauty make these spots worthy of a visit.
Despite the influx of thousands of pilgrims and tourists to Sudhmahadev, not even a toilet facility has been provided in the area by the Government authorities while for night stay of visiting tourist, the only accommodation is a temple Sarai, which remains overcrowded during the summer days, said Sarpanch Pritam Chand.
A Yatri Bhawan was proposed near the Hospital building around three years back but nothing could materialize in this regard for the reasons best known to the concerned authorities while for creating the toilet facility, the authorities are still looking for a suitable space for the last several years, he added.
Situated a few kilometers further away from Sudhmahadev, Mantalai is the place associated with the legend of the marriage of Lord Shiva with the Goddess Parvati.
This temple is also of great archaeological significance as red earthenware and terra cotta figures were discovered at this place. Besides the Shiv Temple, the major attraction of this place is the grand complex created by Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari, which includes a tree shaped house, an air strip, a hostel, a zoo and a number of other unfinished projects spread over 1008 kanals of land surrounded by Deodar trees.
However, what to say of creating additional facilities for the visitors, even the existing infrastructure is not being take care of. The grand complex created by Swami. Dhirendra Brahmachari at Mantalai is turning into ruins day by day with no efforts to save the precious property while the Guest Houses of Tourism Department at Sudhmahadev have turned into ruins and are closed since years. The state of existing infrastructure can be further gauged from the fact that PDA hut at Dudu near Vasuki Naag temple is virtually lying closed due to no upkeep and maintenance while Tourism hut at Dudu has been occupied by CRPF, informed the locals.
Keeping in view the tourism potential of the area, a number of locals even offered creation of facilities such as Guest Houses and Huts on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode but they rued that there was no response from the Government and Tourism Department.
“If the Government develops this circuit by providing good road connectivity and facilities like accommodation, these places can attract a large number of tourists like Himachal Pradesh and generate employment, said K L Gupta of Latti.
Not projecting the vast tourism potential of this constituency despite being MLA of the ruling coalition partner and having own party colleague as Tourism Minister, is another major failure of Krishan Chander Bhagat.
Ropeway, Kud Maal Road, Kandar to Yugdhar road link via Ghordi could also have ushered a new era of economic development in the constituency but the local MLA did nothing to pursue these projects, said young businessman Prem Kumar.
While the failures are unending, Krishan Chander Bhagat seems to have little success to highlight as MLA and this could be the apparent reason that for weeks he kept seeking more time from the Excelsior for listing his achievement during the last more than five years.
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