Mandleshwar (Madhya Pradesh): Onset of monsoon brings along a plethora of troubles for residents of Asukhedi near Chhoti Khargone. The muddy road turns slippery making driving a herculean task. It also brings along transportation woes as vehicles tend to avoid the area due to lack of a proper paved road.
It has been decades since villagers raised demand for a paved road to their village. However, the demand has failed to evoke response from politicians and bureaucrats.
This year too, they raised the same demand and even went in a delegation to local MLA MLA Rajkumar Mev to share their plight. The delegation was led by BJP's booth president, Manoj Gangarekar. However, the MLA had his own priorities on the basis of votes he received from the region.
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In fact, Mev forthrightly linked the demand with lower number of votes received from the booth in assembly elections. He is alleged to have told the delegation and Gangarekar, 'I have received 50 votes less from your booth.' He then went on to say that person responsible at Janpad panchayat had been informed about the demand. However, he made it quite clear, 'Fewer votes from region will make it difficult to prioritise solving the road issue.'
Later, Gangarekar said that during monsoon the existing road turns slippery and dangerous. This often leads to frequent accidents.
Gangarekar and other local leaders, including Ashwin Pipalde, Sandeep Verma, Babu Verma, and Bajrang Dal workers Ganesh Verma, Jitendra Dudwa, Rohit Verma, and Ajay Hirve, criticised MLA Mev for neglecting their needs and backing away on campaign promise.
During the assembly election campaign, Mev had assured the villagers that the Choti Khargone-Asukhedi road would be constructed. However, the villagers' written complaints to Collector and other officials over the past two years have yet to yield any results.
Notably, in 2023, Rajkumar Mev had won the seat defeating sitting MLA Vijayalakshmi Sadho of Congress by 5919 votes.
In response, MLA Rajkumar Mev claimed he had informed the department concerned of Madhya Pradesh government about the road complaints through a letter, demanding a paved road for the villagers of Chhoti Khargone.
Despite these assurances, the villagers feel betrayed and continue to face significant hardships due to the neglected road.
