Kanpur: In a rare show of grit and determination, an 81-year-old woman filed her nomination papers for the upcoming panchayat polls in Kanpur just to ensure more facilities and development of her village.
Rani Devi of Rudrapur Bail village in Chaubepur block of the district, says she has entered the poll fray with the sole objective to ensure development of her village. After filing her nomination papers for Block Development Council (BDC) member on Saturday, she told reporters, “At this age, neither I have greed for any post, nor I am here to at the behest of any political party. I have decided on my own to contest the poll for overall development of my village,” she said.
“My village does not have even basic facilities like a road network, proper drains and drinking water supply. Garbage continues to pile up, mosquitoes breed in stagnant water and overflowing drains are a common sight due to lack of arrangements for proper sanitation,” she added.
“Most leaders promise the moon before the elections, but never come back after winning. So, I have decided to contest the panchayat election to improve the lives of the people of my village,” she said.
“If elected, I will also try to do a bit for the people of my age group,” Devi added.
“We made several representations to people’s representatives and government authorities, asking them to develop our village and solve problems by providing basic civic amenities,” said Abhijeet, her grandson, who had accompanied her to the block office for filing nomination.
“Since the previous BDC members failed to do anything for our village, my 81-year-old grandmother decided to file nomination to develop our village,” he added.
The elections for gram panchayats, kshetra panchayats and zila panchayats will be held in the district in the first phase on April 15. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.