Uttarakhand Village Residents Threaten To Boycott Polls If Road Not Built

"No road, no vote" -- this is what the residents of Livada village in Uttarkashi have decided until an approach road to the village is built.

In a memorandum submitted to the District Magistrate of Uttarkashi, the residents of Livadi village have said that they will not participate in any election until the road is built.

"No road, no vote," the villagers said in the memorandum.

Local MLA Durgeshwar Lal said the construction work was not possible due to rain but the work is progressing at a fast pace and the road will soon be opened.

In March 2013, the construction work of the Jakhol-Livadi road to connect six villages, including Livadi -- the last village of Govind Wildlife Sanctuary National Park area in Mori tehsil of Uttarkashi -- was given to the Irrigation Block, Purola under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

After approval, a 15-km stretch of road was "cut" following which, WAPCOS Limited took over the project. Since then, the construction work has been going on at a very slow pace, causing resentment among the villagers, the memorandum said.

The five other villages that will be connected to the Jakhol-Livadi motorable road are Rala, Haripur, Kasla, Rekcha, and Fitadi.

In a meeting held on Tuesday, a resolution was passed unanimously in which the villagers announced a complete boycott of all elections till the time a motorable road to the village is built.

According to officials, 285 families reside in Livadi village.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)