Doda, Ramban villagers threaten to boycott poll

Residents of around 14 flood-hit villages in Desa belt of Doda and Ramban Assembly seats have threatened to boycott the state elections after the local administration allegedly failed to provide them free ration.

"We were promised free rations after the floods wreaked havoc on us and damaged our standing crops, but for the past two months we have not received a single grain of that ration," Om Prakash, the Sarpanch of Malan village alleged.

He said that several villages of the Desa area that constitute the two assembly segments of Ramban and Doda lost around 90 per cent of their standing crop due to the floods. "We have lost 90 percent of our yield and all the maize fields got destroyed due to massive soil erosion by the flood.

Now we are totally dependent on government ration," the sarpanch said. He alleged that despite repeatedly pleading to the officials of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department, they have "not received" any ration for the past two months.

He said that if the residents of the Desa area don't get ration they would be forced to starve in the coming days, as the winter months would close the highway. "The people would starve to death in the winter months if they don't get ration before the highway is closed in winter," he said.