Bandipora village residents boycott polls over broken promises

Bandipora, Oct 1: Situated on the banks of Wular Lake, Kanyari village in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Sunday stayed away from the polls to protest against the lack of development by the successive regimes.

The village, located in the Sumbal division, is part of the Bandipora constituency following delimitation.

A day before the scheduled polls on Tuesday, the villagers decided to boycott voting as “a mark of protest” against the lack of attention from the authorities.

The polling station 142 in Kanyari of Gundjahangir Gath with 516 registered voters witnessed no ballots cast despite a good turnout in the rest of the district.

The villagers, who are primarily fishermen and involved in sand extraction, boycott to protest against them being accused of encroaching on the lake area.

The villagers said that they had lived there for decades, but since 2014, the Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) and the Forest Department have not allowed any construction or government-approved projects in the village.

“They have been telling us for years that we have to vacate this area,” said Abdul Ahad, a villager. “But no authority is rehabilitating us. We have been suffering for 10 years now.”

Farooq Ahmad, another villager, said that the projects for roads and water supply were not allowed by WUCMA and the Forest Department, and construction was stopped.

“We aren't even allowed to build washrooms. Our lives have been turned into hell. Nobody wants to marry our children,” he said.

Ahmad blamed the successive government, saying, “If they are not able to relocate us, why not allow the construction works so we can have some comfort in our lives?”

They said politicians earlier also did not do justice to them.

“Even if we are illegally residing here, why not give us government compensation of 5 marlas of land that are provided to homeless people? Nobody seems to pay heed to our concerns. We have been isolated and ignored,” another villager said.