Korukonda: With repeated pleas by villagers to get a road constructed falling on deaf ears of the administration, school-going children from Padalput village under Patrel panchayat of Korukonda block in Malkangiri district Tuesday took to repairing the road on their own.
To reach Padalput village, one has to reach Majhiguda village. A PWD road from Malkangiri-Balimela main road goes to Kenduguda. A bifurcation road from this PWD road runs to Majhiguda village. While the PWD road and the bifurcation road are in motorable condition, the road connects between Padalput and Majhiguda villages is an earthen road and is in pathetic condition.
In past, the villagers took the matter up with the sarpanch and block development officer requesting to lay a concrete or tarmac top on the road, but to no avail.
“The administration has not carried out any repair work on this road, let alone constructing the road,” alleged the villagers.
With no option left, the villagers have been repairing the road every year. They would pool funds and offer labour to give the road at least a condition for commuting on bicycles.
As the schools are open, students are using this road to go their institutions. In a recent incident, two students had a close save after they fell off their bicycles as they could not negotiate the potholes on the road. And going to save the children, a motorcyclist coming from the opposite direction applied sudden brakes and he also fell off the vehicle.
This incident forced the students to think about the issue. They eventually decided to do something to ensure their safety. Tuesday, they came out of their houses carrying spades, crowbars and baskets to fix the damaged road reminding people of Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das’ famous poem ‘Tume Pari Chhota Pila Tie’.
Hearing about the incident, members of two SHGs also came to the spot and joined hands with the children. Few hours later, the road looked levelled with no potholes.
After coming to know about this, ‘Team Sangathan’, a social organisation, informed the district Collector and the concerned executive engineers about what the children have done. He also shared some photographs of the children in action with the officials.
The villagers have urged the administration to construct an all-weather road as soon as possible.
PNN
