Villagers in Delhi will organize a ‘Gaon Dehat Bachao Rath Yatra’ (Save villages) across the 360 villages of the capital from October 13, announced Palam 360 Khap leader Chaudhary Surender Solanki.
“If the long-standing issues concerning the rural areas of Delhi are not resolved before the assembly election dates are announced, the residents of 360 villages will boycott the polls,” the Khap leader added. Speaking about Yatra, he said that it will travel through the villages and at each stop, a village-level panchayat will be held where residents will discuss their unresolved problems.
The Khap leader added that the people of rural Delhi have historically contributed significantly to the development of both the capital and the nation; however, the current state of the villages has turned into disorganized slums. Many long-pending issues, despite being raised repeatedly with the Lieutenant Governor and the former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, remain unresolved, he lamented.
Earlier on September 15, thousands of residents from Delhi’s 360 villages had gathered at Jantar Mantar under the leadership of Solanki to protest and demand solutions to their grievances and a 15-day ultimatum was issued to the authorities. When the demands were not addressed, on October 6, the villagers had launched an indefinite sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar but later that evening; Delhi Police detained the protesters and cleared the site. However, they were released later the same night.