Dasamantapur: Upset over the lack of road connectivity, villagers of Dakribeda under this block in Koraput district have decided to boycott the upcoming three-tier panchayat elections.
In the absence of a proper road to the village, taking critical patients and pregnant women out of the village to a nearby hospital is a difficult proposition as ambulances fail to enter the village.
People in several neighbouring villages are also suffering from similar problems.
The villagers stated that while the government gives top priority to rural connectivity, the villagers have been a deprived lot. Adding to their problem is the absence of a bridge across river Poda flowing on the outskirts of the village. In protest against the alleged administrative apathy, the villagers Saturday waded through the river and a staged and agitation, demanding immediate steps for a bridge and a road.
Former sarpanch Pradip Muduli claimed that they had written to the collector seeking road connectivity to the village, but to no avail.
MP Jhina Hikaka and MLA Kailash Chandra Kulesika also visited the village and assured the villagers of a road and a bridge, but nothing has been done in this direction, the villagers alleged.
A road has been a vital necessity for the village, as thousands of people in 20 other villagers depend on a rut track. In rainy season, the problems of the villagers compound as the region remains cut off from the rest of the world for days together.
Janardan Bhatra, Prem Hial and other villagers said negotiating the rut track and crossing the river has been a routine for villagers and school students living in Dengaguda, Phundaguda, Dumbaguda, Hatimunda, Kasakata, Kaliamba, Bhandasil, and Tureighati.
BDO Sukant Majhi said he would intimate the issue to the collector and the project director of district rural development agency. PNN
