Politicians and celebrities are frequent visitors to the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik, but just 22km from it is the Takeharsh gram panchayat where people have never seen a single political party campaigning for an election.
Of the 250 households in the gram panchayat, 90 do not have ration cards, and those which got cards recently were asked to pay ₹500 per person. Despite that, they still do not get ration. During the COVID-19 lockdown, said the villagers, they did not receive foodgrains under the Prime Minister’s free ration scheme.
