Jaleswar/Keonjhar: Elections are round the corner, but the people of some pockets, angered by broken promises and backwardness, have warned of a boycott of the polls in Balasore and Keonjhar districts.
A report from Jaleswar said Manipatana village in Jaleswar municipality is still far away from development. The village is inhabited by people from Scheduled Caste communities, who said they have been suffering due to the absence of a road, and that no official or politician has helped them.
They said their village has been under the municipality since 1964, and that the civic body had been collecting taxes from them.
The villagers still use the ridges across farmlands to venture out. During emergencies fire tenders and ambulances cannot enter the village. The ill are carried in slings to the main road.
The government had allotted an Anganwadi centre, but that has not been set up, locals said.
During monsoons children face a lot of problems in coming out of the village as farmlands get flooded. Many children have quit studies due to this factor.
The villagers said the administration seems to be in deep slumber even though its attention was drawn to their problems through the media. They warned that they would boycott the polls if their problems were not solved.
Reports from Keonjhar said many remote villages in the district are still backward.
Dhaladihi in Bansapal block is one such village. Women of the village have come out over the issue and submitted a memorandum to the Collector Monday.
The women pointed out a host of problems plaguing the village. “The village school has no boundary wall and drinking water. Our children have been suffering. There is no bridge across the nearby river, and people have to wade across it to reach panchayat headquarters,” they said.
Members of an SHG had taken up the issue with the sarpanch and the block and district administrations, but in vain. If things are not sorted out soon, the villagers said they will boycott the elections.
PNN
