PALAMPUR: The residents of seven panchyats of Chhota and Bara Bhnagal areas of Baijnath sub- division have announced to boycott the upcoming lok sbaha elections, since the state government had failed to withdraw its notification bringing these panchyats in the preview of wild life century.
A meeting to this effect was held at Chhota Bhangal this afternoon under the chairmanship of Mr. Bhim Singh, panchyat pardhan Bara Gram. All the seven panchyat pardhans of the affected areas attended the meeting and it was unanimously decided to boycott the parliament elections to be held in May 2009. Copies of the resolution passed were sent to the Governor and Chief Minister.
Mr. Bhim Singh said that after this notification their entry in the forest had been banned and their local rights had come to an end. Besides, the construction of roads, drinking water supply schemes and construction of government building had been suspended as such activities could be carried in wild life century areas.
It may be recalled that over thirty thousand residents of Chhota and Bara Bhangal area had been protesting for the past two years for their inclusion in wild life century which had caused hardship to them and all development activities in the area had come to stand still. These people had also staged dharna in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner Kangra last week to press their demands. Even the representations made to Chief Minister had yielded no results so far.
A senior journalist from Palampur.
