Elderly, youngsters in Faqir Gujri queue for vote for redressal of long pending issues

Srinagar, Sep 25: In his 50s, Mohammad Rafiq arrived at the polling booth in Srinagar’s Faqir Gujri hamlet around 6:30 am before the polling had begun, expecting a huge rush. He said he had been waiting in the queue for three hours and still had to wait to cast his vote.

Like many voters, Rafiq said that despite brisk polling each election, the area has been craving for basic facilities. Voters of all age groups said they have their respective issues in mind while casting their votes for their favorite candidate.

“Our remote location has made us more disconnected from the basic amenities, and while we have had no representative for around a decade, we are facing ever-growing issues. This is why you see these long queues and people waiting hours to cast their vote,” Rafiq said.

The locals said skyrocketing electric bills, scarcity of ration, lack of health care, and road connectivity are some of the major issues faced by the area.

“For decades, we had electricity bills for just under 200 rupees as we live in small houses with no major electric appliance and we are also economically weak. For the past few years, there have been several hikes in the bills, and now we have around 1500 rupees as an electricity bill,” said Ghulam Hassan , an elderly voter.

The locals said that despite no filtration plant for water supply, they are made to pay hiked water bills which is adding to their burden. “We are fed water without any filtration plant and we don’t understand what the water bills are for. Most of the households don’t have access to tap water inside,” said another voter.

The voters said that the healthcare facilities are in shambles too. They said the health center in their locality sans both facilities and staff. “Other than a few over-the-counter medicines, there is no facility. This is a remote area, and we want a 24/7 doctor facility here. We are not able to benefit from even the basic medical tests here due to lack of equipment and staff. We had an ambulance for a few months in the past which was taken away for us,” said Mushtaq Ahmad, another voter.

The youth, including many first-time voters, were seen waiting in queues. Yasir Ahmad, a first-time voter in assembly elections, said that their main issues include unemployment and quality education. They said that despite hundreds of households in the Faqir Gujri and adjacent areas, they only have a middle school.

“We need a higher secondary school in the area so that our young brothers and sisters don’t have to travel for kilometers for education. As the world is moving towards modern education we are stuck with the old traditional ways. There is no IT education or not even one government-run IT institute in the vicinity. Due to lack of education, we are forced to take up menial jobs, and the cycle of poverty continues,” Ahmad said.