The 7000 plus
eligible voters, who have been living for a long time in East Khasi Hills
district of Meghalaya, have never voted in any elections, as they are not
registered voters.
Sixty-seven years after India’s Independence
and 40 years after Meghalaya attained statehood, a group of 272 people in East
Khasi Hills district will be casting their votes for the first time in a Lok
Sabha poll while their 7000 odd neighbors would not.
These 7000 plus
eligible voters, who have been living for a long time in this part of the
state, have never voted in any election, as they are not registered voters.
The 272 lucky people
voted only twice in their lives - in the Assembly election last year and the
just concluded autonomous council election.
These 7000 odd people
included Garo people and about 1500 non-indigenous tribals displaced after
Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
They all live in 14
villages along the international border since time immemorial but are unaware
of the facilities offered by the administration. The Shella village council
looks after the welfare of Shella and seven nearby villages. Lately 272 people
got residential certificates as they could produce documents showing them as
tenants.
None of these 7000
plus people living in these 14 villages have MGNREGS job cards.
There are no health-care facilities despite reports of leprosy, TB and malaria cases.
No comments:
Post a Comment