RLD launches 'selfie with gaddha' drive to expose UP roads' condition

Chaudhary Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal has launched a curious online campaign of 'selfie with gaddha (potholes)' to lay bare the state of the roads in Uttar Pradesh and question Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's "promises" to improve it.

The RLD's campaign, launched on October 11, seeks social media users to share their selfies with 'potholed roads' on party-designated Twitter handle (@swgaddha) and email id (swgaddha@gmail.com).

The campaign is also aimed at exposing "rampant corruption" in awarding tenders for building roads and maintaining them, said RLD vice president Jayant Chaudhary in a statement.

The movement has been initiated to lay bare the false promises and subsequent claims made by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over repairs of all the potholed roads in UP by September 15, 2017, said Chaudhary.

He said despite the "lapse of one full year", hardly any work has been done to rid the state's roads of potholes and improve their condition.

Potholes on UP roads indicate a deteriorating quality in road building due to rampant corruption in awarding tenders for their construction and maintenance. This has real costs in terms of loss of human lives and negative impacts on productivity and pollution, he said.

Potholes resulted in deaths of 987 people in UP in 2017 which is more than 803 deaths occurring in terrorist and disruptive activities all over the country in the year, he claimed in his statement.

The party has also released a video song 'gaddha' on YouTube to highlight the road conditions in the state, he said.

The RLD has launched the selfie programme as part of its "larger movement pol khol-dhava bol (expose and attack) which was started when the party organised an agitation on August 14 against the power tariff hike for rural consumers and farmers in the state, he said.

Chaudhary said it is only a tip of the iceberg and he intends to keep up the pressure by highlighting the Adityanath government's failure in UP as well as the false promises and claims of the Centre.

On the selfie campaign, Chaudhary said it is a youth-centric campaign, entirely driven by the people using the roads and facing problems due to their "miserable" condition.

The beauty of the programme is that it is easy to take part in it and it can have real impact on the governance delivery. It is meant as a platform for those who suffer and who can raise their voices against the apathy of the authorities.

He said in the wake of his party's "selfie with gaddha" campaign, there are already reports coming in of authorities stepping in and repairing some stretches pointed out by his party's social media campaign accounts.

I have launched this just to help the chief minister deliver and it should be seen in a positive light by the people of UP, Chaudhary added.