Irked villagers manhandle Minister

In a rare incident in Uttarakhand, the Minister of State for higher education Dhan Singh Rawat faced the rage of the villagers, mostly women, out to manhandle him, from Chopra village in Pauri district, when he reached Khandakhil village to inaugurate a road on Sunday. It is learnt that angry women and other villagers from Chopra surrounded the Minister and shouted slogans against him. When they were about to manhandle the Minister he chose to run away, according to the villagers who were present with the Minister on the occasion. Later, a video purportedly showing the Minister facing the wrath of the women and fleeing the village went viral on the social networking sites. It is pertinent to mention here that the incident happened within the limits of Srinagar Assembly constituency the Minister is the MLA from. 

Sources said that the villagers demanded extension of the road connecting Khandakhil village which was being inaugurated by the minister in their village too.  Notably, Rawat as the MLA from the area had given Rs five lakh for the construction of the road.

However, the sub-divisional magistrate Maya Dutt Joshi denied that any such incident had happened during the Minister’s programme in the village.