Koraput: Suffering due to the negligence and apathy of the local administrative for decades, residents of a tribal village in this district Monday threatened to boycott the upcoming polls unless their demands were fulfilled.
“Although seven decades have passed since the country attained Independence, we are yet to receive the basic amenities,” alleged residents of Rohiamba village of Parajabedapadar panchayat under Dasamantapur block.
The development of the village only remains on paper and in the speeches of the leaders during electioneering, they added.
Though they have been raising the issue with their elected representatives, including the MP and MLA as well as the district and block authorities, all pleas have fallen on deaf ears so far.
As a result, the villagers are determined to stay away from election process until their problems are addressed.
The village, inhabited by some 15 Kondh and Paraja families, is just 15 km from the block headquarters Dasamantapur. All families here come under the BPL category and mostly rely on shift cultivation for a living. While they go for farming in four months, during rest of the year the tribals either work as daily labourers or collect minor forest produce for their survival.
Despite being in the vicinity of the block headquarters, the village lacks an all weather road, a school and an Anganwadi Centre.
Some children were enrolled in schools at Tataguda and Balighat areas. But in the rainy season, they fail to attend their classes.
The villagers said it is better not to speak about the drinking water facility as people use the water collected from paddy field for both bathing and drinking purposes.
Shankada River separates the village from the block headquarters. In the absence of a bridge, the village remains cut-off from other regions in rainy season when the river swells up.
A bridge over the river would not only help the people of Rohiamba, but even the residents of other villages including Sariamba, Tamakseel and Bariguda would also benefit from it, said Raghu Ani, Dhablu Saunta and Dashu Saunta of the village.
PNN
