Villagers still have to take a boat to vote
NOIDA: Three years since residents of Dalelpur village in Dadri constituency were ferried via boat across the Yamuna river to cast their votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha election, authorities are yet to resolve their connectivity issues.
Dalelpur comprises a population of over 500 people and 202 registered voters, and is the only village in Gautam Budh Nagar that is situated across the Yamuna. By road, it is closer to Faridabad in Haryana than Gautam Budh Nagar. Sky-high buildings located along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway in sectors 146, 135, 168 and 164 are easily visible from Dalelpur, but it takes villagers nearly 20 minutes to cross the river to get to the other side. By road, it takes them over one-and-a-half hours to reach the same spot, which is almost 70km away.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the villagers had decided to boycott the polls as their polling booth was located on the other side of the river in Gulawali village in Sector 168. It was only after much persuasion by local administration and leaders, and after a boat was provided to ferry them across the river, that 21 voters had turned up to vote. Local leaders at the time had assured the villagers that their issues will be resolved soon. However, residents say that nothing has changed in three years.
“In 2020’s panchayat elections, a polling booth was made in our village. We were hopeful that the same booth will be used for the assembly election as well. However, we are facing the same situation as in 2019,” said Kailash Chaprana (53), the village head.
Asked whether the villagers will go to vote, Chaprana said, “While we are not encouraging any boycott, but out of the 202 voters, barely 10-12 people have decided to vote in these elections.”
When asked if the authorities were taking note of the villagers’ issues, district magistrate Suhas LY said, “I have directed the returning officer to look into the matter and resolve the issue of the villagers having to travel so far to a polling booth.”
With just seven days to go for voting day, villagers are also furious about the fact that none of the contesting candidates has visited their village even once.
“It is not just the sitting MLA, candidates from other parties have not visited us either. This just goes to show how neglected our village is,” said Neeraj Tyagi, a resident of the village.
When questioned, sitting MLA and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Dadri hopeful Tejpal Nagar said, “A visit to Dalelpur is on my schedule. I will also try to resolve the issue regarding the polling booth”.
Samajwadi Party’s Dadri candidate Raj Kumar Bhati said he was aware of the issues plaguing the village. “I will be visiting the village soon,” he said.