Jhumpura/Raisuan, July 6: Notwithstanding cores of rupees being spent on rural development, basic amenities remain inaccessible in many forested hamlets in Jhumpura block of tribal-dominated Keonjhar district, a report said.
A case in point is Basantpur, where unavailability of drinking water has been a perennial problem.
Inhabitants of the hamlet, located in a forested area, have no way but to drink water from pits and nullahs.
The Swajaladhara Yojana, a programme aimed at providing drinking water to the rural population, seems to have been ineffective in the forested pocket.
There are two tube wells in village is inhabited by people belonging to Scheduled Caste, but both are lying defunct.
“The tube wells become defunct often even though they are repaired. We have no way but to use water from Badaghat creek,” said residents Gourang Pentei, Haria Pentei, Akhil Pentei, Ghanta Pentei, Gurubari Pentei and Mangulu Pentei.
They pointed out that the OMC authorities in Joda have built an overhead tank for a drinking water project in the nearby area, but the project has not been made operational.
“Under this situation, we solely depend on water available from pits in Badaghat creek,” they added.
Mohan Singh, an engineer of the Jhumpura office of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS), said, “There is need for a deep bore well to be run by solar power at the village. Its work will start soon.”
The situation is more or less the same in many parts of Raisuan block where development has taken a backseat and people have been enduring many hardships in the absence of road connectivity.
In the rainy season, many villages remain cut off from the rest of the world.
Villagers alleged the government spends crores of rupees towards building pucca roads in rural areas, but there has been no visible development in the villages here.
In the rainy season, the miseries of people compound when they find it difficult to ferry patients and pregnant women to hospitals.
Roads are in such a bad shape that ambulances fail to enter the villages, some locals said, adding roads become muddy and sleek even after a drizzle.
Under such circumstances, patients are carried in slings to nearby hospitals.
Such sights are common in the rainy season in Mahadeijoda panchayat. The condition of about 80 per cent of the village road is deplorable.
Reports said roads like Tikarapada-Ranthamara, Dhatika-Balipasi, Mahadeijoda-Madarangajodi, Tikarapada-Kudiaghera and Sarapentha-Naupada are in bad shape.
Locals alleged many sarpanchs have come and gone, but the condition of roads has not improved.
Elderly people said during elections, political leaders step in the villages with a lot of promises, but later renege on them. PNN
