Kaliapani: Development continues to elude hilltop Nagada village which shot to ill fame for malnutrition and anaemic deaths of children in 2016, a report said.
Nagada has once again become inaccessible after a road which was laid up to the hilltop after the malnutrition deaths was washed away in the monsoon rain. This has pushed the poor tribals to live a life of deprivation and penury. The rain water from the hilltop flows on it like a drain cutting off residents from the outside world.
Nagada is a cluster of villages on a hilltop in Sukinda block of Jajpur district. The hilltop village caught international attention after 21 children died of malnutrition and anaemia in 2016. The deaths of the kids caught the district administration on wrong foot and exposed the loopholes in the administration.
Later, senior officials of the state government and the Centre visited Nagada and directed to carry out developmental works in the area. The revenue divisional commissioner (Central) intervened and stressed road construction at the outset.
He stressed on road construction as this would pave the way for various line departments to reach Nagada and make available various developmental programmes to the poor tribals. The state government and the central team also directed road construction on a war-footing without floating any tender as this would hasten developmental programmes in Nagada.
Initially, the road was repaired for movement of vehicles while a motorable road was constructed after the Chief Minister visited Kalrangi in 2017. A consultancy agency of Andhra Pradesh was assigned the task of road construction.
The agency bypassed all rules and constructed a road to Nagada by cutting down large trees on both sides at an expenditure of Rs 13 crore. As a result, a seven km long road was constructed which connected Nagada with the outside world.
This spread cheers among tribals as they thought the road will help them go downhill and get the benefits of various welfare schemes. However, a few days after the road construction the road has been damaged at various places.
Later, the state revenue and energy minister visited Nagada and directed the district administration to repair the road. The district administration directed a consultancy agency to repair the road which instead of fully repairing the road only carried out patch work by laying murram. The road instead of becoming durable was washed away in monsoonal rain.
Reports said the district administration has planned to construct a cement-concrete road to Nagada with funds available from the DMF fund. However, it has failed to do so as the forest department is yet to give its environmental clearance.
Recently, the residents met Sukinda MLA Preetiranjan Ghadai and demanded a permanent road to their villages. District Collector Chakraborty Singh Rathore also admitted to the bad road condition when he visited the area. When contacted, BDO Biswajit Das said a tender has been floated and very soon a road will be constructed to Nagada.
PNN
