Nuapada: A day after district officials reached Maraguda following reports about children of the village surviving on tubers, a delegation of the villagers met the additional district magistrate to highlight their plight Thursday.
The village in Kermeli panchayat and about 20 km from the district headquarters of Nuapada is surrounded by hills and forests from all sides.
The inhabitants live a life of neglect and deprivation in the absence of basic facilities like education, healthcare and road connectivity. Due to lack of nutritious food, children consume tubers.
A team from the administration met the villagers Wednesday after Orissa Post published a report about the kids eating wild tubers.
However, instead of enquiring about their problems, the team reportedly posed a volley of questions to the villagers while distributing some food stuff to them.
Expressing concern over the team’s attitude, the tribals met ADM Trilochan Minz in the absence of the collector and demanded solution to their problems.
A 10-member delegation of the villagers led by Jagdish Sabar trekked their way for 20-km to reach here. In a memorandum, they alleged they have been deprived of welfare benefits.
Housing units that they received under the Indira Awas Yojana remained incomplete due to callousness of the officials concerned, the memorandum said, adding they have reeling under darkness due to lack of power connectivity. Two tube wells installed in the village have failed to meet their drinking water needs, it said.
Prominent among their demands were two – construction of an Anganwadi centre and an all weather road to the village.
The ADM assured the villagers of looking into their demands.
Ghasiram Majhi, president of Zilla Krushak Sangh, a farmers’ outfit, accompanied the villagers during their meeting with the ADM. PNN