Its only boat gone, village cast adrift ahead of elections

Noida: A small village with about 20 people on the electoral list has lost the only boat that would have helped them cross the Yamuna and taken them to the polling booth in Dadri.
Dalelpur, located across the Yamuna in Faridabad, technically falls in Greater Noida. As it is part of the Dadri Assembly constituency, the villagers have only two ways of travelling to the polling booth. If they take the road, it would mean a good 70km travel through Kalindi Kunj or the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Greater Noida. The other route, though much shorter, is a little more arduous. The villagers need to walk 2km to the Yamuna bank, ride a boat to cross the 200m wide river to Yakutpur, and take some public transport to the polling booth in Dadri.

But the only boat that the village had has now been washed away by the river current. Neeraj Tyagi, a Dalelpur resident, said they were thinking of skipping the vote. “A few years ago, we had developed a temporary bridge across the Yamuna. But the Noida Authority removed the structure, terming it illegal. We then bought a boat, installed two poles at both the banks and connected them with a rope so that we can cross the river. This way, we travelled to Noida and vice-versa. But a few days ago, the boat was washed away. We searched for the boat but could not find it,” he said.

On March 16, TOI had reported that Dalelpur lacked basic facilities. The village does not have a school, college, hospital, bank or post-office. The villagers had collected Rs 22 lakh and constructed a road connecting Dalelpur to neighbouring villages. However, the development company engaged in construction of a railway line under a DMIC project damaged the road.

Following the report, the district administration had sent a team led by circle officer Shwetabh Pandey to the village. Pandey spoke to the villagers and assured them their issues would be addressed. Administrative officials declined comment on development work at Dalelpur, citing enforcement of the model code of conduct. However, they said they would engage a motorboat to help villagers reach the booth.

Srinivas Pradhan, former pradhan of Jaganpur-Afzalpur and Dalelpur villages, said funds for these areas stopped after the UP government scrapped panchayat polls. “The three villages had elected me in the last local polls. However, in 2015, the UP government notified these villages and decided against holding local elections. The funds stopped after that,” he said. The pradhan said the boat was washed away on Monday night. “Water was released from the Kalindi Kunj barrage and the boat was washed away in the current. We will engage some fishermen to trace the boat,” he said.