A socio-political movement covering 360 villages in the national capital, aimed at safeguarding Delhi’s rural belt ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, is now calling for a boycott of the polls scheduled for next year.
Under the leadership of Palam-360 chief, Choudhary Surender Solanki, several villagers from West Delhi have collectively announced their intention to boycott the upcoming assembly elections in the national capital. The movement, called the ‘Gaon Dehat Bachao Yatra,’ has already covered over 225 villages in Delhi, highlighting the neglect of welfare in the growing rural areas.
On Saturday, the movement reached South West Delhi’s Ambrahi village, where the villagers announced they would boycott the upcoming elections unless their long-pending demands are addressed.
The villagers, citing the government’s neglect of welfare in infrastructure, health, and education in the national capital, held a panchayat, chaired by Chaudhary Subae Singh, to address critical concerns and draw the government’s attention to their plight. Ambrahi is also the constituency of BJP MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat.
Their key demands include an immediate notification of the property tax waiver announced last year by the Delhi Mayor, free ownership rights to ancestral properties, prompt allocation of alternative plots to farmers whose lands were acquired, raising circle rates to ₹10 crore, expanding Lal Dora areas, and granting ownership rights for land and plots allotted under specific government programs.
Speaking at the meeting, Chaudhary Solanki, the head of North India’s largest Khap panchayat, expressed deep concern over the deteriorating conditions of Delhi’s villages. He accused successive governments of neglecting rural areas, leading to a lack of basic amenities and forcing villagers to live in deplorable conditions. Solanki claimed lands were acquired for urbanization at negligible compensation, with Gram Sabha lands being taken over by authorities.
He demanded that projects built on village land should carry the names of the respective villages to protect their identity.
Solanki also highlighted the environmental degradation in rural areas, which he said has been ignored by the government, despite the city’s pollution problem often being in the spotlight. He mentioned that trees are dying and the green cover is diminishing in rural areas. Solanki criticized the government’s double standards and called for immediate action to address water drainage, irrigation systems, and environmental conservation.
He urged the government to act swiftly to resolve these issues, warning that failure to do so could lead to further crises, prompting protests from the villagers.
