Residents of the colony feel left out.
By Saloni Arora
Bengaluru, April 11, 2019: Residents of the Hakki Pikki colony, an area situated in the outskirts of Bengaluru, are unhappy with the present government due to their unfulfilled promises.
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting April 11 until May 19. The final count will be done on May 23, 2019. The seven phases will cover 543 constituencies. Following the Lok Sabha elections 2019, Karnataka will vote during the second phase and the third phase on April 18 and April 23, respectively.
Karnataka has a total number of 28 parliamentary seats. The main parties standing from Karnataka are Congress, JD(s) and BJP.
“Almost 100 families live in this area, however, we have not been provided with even the basic facilities, like hospitals, transport, grocery shops, and more. Pregnant women face health issues and complications as they have to travel 15 kilometres to reach a hospital. Many of them end up delivering babies inside their home,” says Pavitra, a resident of Hakki Pikki colony.
Most of the people residing in the area complained about no campaigning taking place before the elections. Hakki Pikki colony is situated 50 kilometres away from Bangalore. It is a small community of about 100 families living in pucca (mud) houses.
The 100 families are semi-nomadic tribe who use to live in different forests including the ones in Mysore and Bangalore.
In the 1950s, during the Rehabilitation Drive by the government of Karnataka, the people were given shelters in the outskirts of Bangalore. The houses were provided by the Congress party.
Arjun, a resident in Hakki Pikki colony said, “We were given the land and houses to live under Indira Gandhi’s tenure (Congress party). The then party supported us, provided us with food, education, jobs. But the current government did nothing for us.”
“We don’t even get to eat one meal a day, we have no job or money to spend on our children’s education. The Modi government has never even helped us in any possible way” says Reshma, a resident.
Prema and a few more women residing in the colony said, “Even if we want to vote for a particular party, the main decision lies with our husbands, we have to vote for the party that our head of the family decides.”
