Telkoi: Benefits of numerous welfare programmes being implemented by the government have failed to reach the inhabitants of a tribal village under this block in Keonjhar district.
Years ago, Tenteinali, a hilly village, was in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The deaths of children due to malnutrition had virtually turned the village into a spot of political tourism, with leaders of various political parties, administrative officials and ministers rushing to the village and assuring the residents of improving their condition.
The gullible villagers, all of them belonging to the primitive Juanga tribe, were hopeful of a lot development, but nothing has turned into reality with many basic problems remaining unresolved.
This picture-postcard village, tucked amid a natural setting of hills and forests, is just 14 km away from the block headquarters. Most of the 75 Juanga families of the village comprising six hamlets are still living in grinding poverty and hardship in the absence of livelihood opportunities and proper road connectivity.
It was learnt that lakhs of rupees have been spent for road construction in the area, but there is no trace of something to be called a road. While the tribals do not know what has happened to the government funds, conscious citizens of the area alleged that the funds have been embezzled.
It was alleged development work is botched up through an unholy nexus between contractors and engineers, but the administration is taking no action in this direction.
The mark of development in the village has remained confined to a primary school, an Anganwadi centre and six Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) houses at Ghagisahi. But all the IAY houses lie incomplete and are of no use to the beneficiaries. Some beneficiaries are living in shanties in the absence of proper dwellings.
Budhini Juanga, a woman, said, “An IAY house was given to my husband. Its walls were raised till ceiling level, but roof has not been completed. The contractor misappropriated the funds. I have to live in my thatched shanty along with my children. In rainy days, our problems compound as the roof leaks.”
Besides, safe drinking water is a distant dream for the tribals. “We do not get safe drinking water. We have to carry water from Ghagara nullah or pits,” lamented Sapani Juanga, Desa Juanga, Panchau Juanga, and Kalia Juanga.
The village has an Anganwadi centre on the premises of the primary school to provide pre-primary schooling and nutrition to tribal kids.
Anganwadi worker Rukmini Munda said, “Fifteen children are taught here. The Anganwadi centre is in a dilapidated shape. Students from Class I to V are taught and accommodated in just on classroom of the school.”
“The centre has neither a boundary wall nor toys. Pre-primary and primary education is badly hit here,” Munda said.
Though two teachers were appointed in the school, they play truant most of the time, depriving the kids of education. In such cases, the Anganwadi worker and the cook manage to teach the kids on their own abilities, locals said.
It is alleged many children are affected by malnutrition. To ward off the illness of kids, their guardians take to superstitious practice like tying various threads on the hands of the children.
The livelihood of the villagers is solely dependent on marginal agriculture and forest produce. Job cards, ration cards and Aadhaar cards have been provided to them, the villagers alleged.
Dharani Juanga, a local, demanded government help for them to promote agriculture. PNN
