No facilities, no votes, say residents in many areas

Whether it is the government handling of the unrest in Ullal earlier in January or lack of drinking water and road facilities, a few residents in different villages have decided to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha election. 

The residents of Shanthinagara in Kambalabettu of Vittla, situated adjacent to the main road have been demanding a road in the layout for the last 35 years. However, the demands have not been met so far. There are over 200 houses with 900 voters in Shanthinagara. The mud road is the only access point to the residents. At the same time, there is no storm water drains and the sewage drains in the layout.

“Without the storm water drians, the entire locality will be converted into a mini pool during rainy season and our children and adults have to walk on the road.

Motorcyclists find it very difficult to travel on the road, particularly during night hours,” said resident Ismail.  “The locality comes under Puttur assembly constituency. We have seen both the Congress and BJP MLAs. They visit us during elections and forget the promise after the elections.” Without sewage drain, the waste water is let into the street, without any option. Few lanes here stink due to the stagnanted water, said Hameed and Riyaz. “The entire work on road and drain will not cost more to the exchequer. A portion of the MLA or MP Fund could have been used by the elected representatives to solve our problems,” they said.

Ullal Kodi

Hundreds of residents of Ullal Kodi have voiced their anger against the police department for arresting “many innocent” persons after two groups were involved in clashes on January 29. Even with allegations of police harassment, 60 persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the violence.

“We have given an ultimatum of April 15, to acquit all the innocents who were arrested from the charges of assault, connection with terrorists, attempt to murder and destruction of public property. Our innicent youth should get clean chit from the police. It is the question of their future,” said Abdul Lathif.

“There were many cases of atrocities here, where the police broke locked doors, entered houses late in the night and destroyed property. Not one politician visited us to ask us about our problems. If they don’t care about us, why should we care about them?” said another resident.

There are around 4,000 voters in Ullal Kodi, Hidayath Nagar, Kotepura, Hileria Nagara, Mukkachery situated in and around Kodi. Ismail Taufique, a person who was arrested by the police, said “I have been rescuing the visitors who get drowned in the beach. I was arrested for no fault of mine.”

Drinking water

“We have been demanding supply of drinking water for years. However, our demands have not been met inspite of KIADB taking up the work on laying pipelines to supply water to IT park situated 100 metres from the houses in Sambarthota in Mudipu,” said residents.

Resident Mohammed Azgar said “there are 100 wells and 20 borewells in the vicinity. However, majority of them have gone dry and the gram panchayat has been supplying water for half an hour for once in two days.

In such a scenario, what should we do for water?” he asked.  Another resident said “we are not against supply of water to IT Park from Thumbay. At the same time, we appeal to the authorities to supply water for us for half an hour in a day from Thumbay.”