Telkoi: Even 70 years after Independence, there are villages and hamlets in mineral-rich Keonjhar district which are miles away from development.
Basic amenities like road connectivity, drinking water, education and healthcare continue to elude the tribal inhabitants who have been leading miserable lives. The administration has been accused of being apathetic towards their problems.
Tamang and Padia Jharna, two hilltop hamlets in Shibnarayanpur Goda panchayat under Telkoi block, remind of the once-infamous Nagada village in Jajpur district.
About 60 people of 22 families reside at Tamang while over 30 families dwell at Padia Jharna. There are no roads to the hamlets and people commute with difficulty on narrow foot tracks meandering amid forests to the panchayat office.
Locals alleged that they have to face a lot of problems on a daily basis while negotiating the hilly terrain fraught with threat from wild animals.
Sarpanch Sirpani Dehuri has several times in the past taken up the issue of road connectivity with the BDO and the collector, but to no avail.
Some residents, Sindhu Pradhan, Chaitu Dehuri, Prabhas Nayak and Dushmant Pradhan, pointed out that while funds of MGNREGS, MLALAD and MPLAD are being utilised to lay roads in other parts of the district, these two hamlets have been completely neglected. The hamlets are also deprived of safe drinking water, education and electricity.
BDO Debraj Sethi said steps will be taken to lay roads to the villages under MGNREGS only after receiving complaint. PNN
