No road, no vote! Amethi villagers stun Smriti

NT Correspondent

Amethi (UP): The 'giant killer' of Amethi, Union Minister Smriti Irani is slowly realising that perfor mance is what matters to voters.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, local people have put up a banner saying "no road, no vote" outside their village in the Gauriganj tehsil here, drawing attention to their problems.

A banner came up outside Purey Alpi Tiwari hamlet in Sarmeny village under Jamo block on Monday warning to boycott the coming elections with the locals raising slogans.

Amethi, which is considered as a VVIP constituency, was represented by the Nehru-Gandhi family until Smriti wrested the Lok Sabha seat in 2019 from former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Omprakash Ojha, a resident of the hamlet, told reporters that there are seven small roads connecting the village to nearby areas but all of them are unpaved.

"Due to lack of access to the village, we have to perform the marriages of our sons and daughters elsewhere. Even bikes cannot move here during the rain. There is no drainage system," Ojha said.

"There is no proper arrangement for drinking water. The scheme of providing tap water under the Jal Jeevan Mission has not yet reached our village. Even the pipeline has not been laid," he added.