Balurghat, April 18: Political parties have decided to boycott rural polls in the 7/7 Samjia gram panchayat in Kumarganj block to protest against the alleged refusal of the block administration to construct a 6 km tar road in the area.

Though yesterday was the last date, not a single candidate from any political party submitted nomination papers.

In 7/7 Samjia only one slogan rents the air —“rasta dao. Vote nao” (Give us the road and take votes). From school-going boys to retired schoolteachers — everybody is “miffed” with the administration.

“We are used to false assurances of political leaders. But we are not going to tolerate it any longer. We will not use our ballot rights as long as our demands are not fulfilled,” said a retired schoolteacher Sunil Kumar Basak.

According to Basak, the residents have been demanding a 6 km- metalled road — from Mollahdighi to Dangarhaat — for the last 27 years.“We have electricity and telephone facilities in the area but no pucca road. The residents have to wade through knee-deep mud to reach Kumarchganj block headquarters or Balurghat during the rains. Repeated appeals to the authorities have fallen on deaf ears”, Basak added.

Another elderly person of the area Nirendranath Bassak said the local MLA Mafuja Khatoon, assistant sabhadhipati of the zilla parishad Deepali Saha and district secretary of the CPM Manabesh Chowdhury had assured the villagers that the road would be constructed.

“Once the elections are over, they forget their promises. But this time we are desperate,” Basak added.

On April 6, an all-party resolution was taken to boycott the votes. The leaders of all the political parties gave a written undertaking to this effect.

Accordingly, prominent leaders of the area — Bipul Kumar Basak of the CPM, Dinesh Chandra Pramanik of the RSP, Nitish Chandra Basak and Janardan Basak of the BJP — decided against filing nomination papers for the May 11-panchayat elections.

The people of the area, who were also present in the meeting, pledged not to participate in the elections.

The winner of the last panchayat elections—Bidhan Basak of Trinamul Congress— also refrained from filing his nomination papers this time.

Sabhadhipati of the zilla parishad Anil Kumar Singha said he was aware of the demand for the road but had not heard about the vote boycott.

“The scheme for construction of the road from Mollahdighi to Dangarhaat has already been approved under the Pradhan Mantri Sarak Yogna,” Singha said. In the first stage, only 2 km of the road would be made pucca.