Kendrapara: Villagers in Bandhapur under Brahmanasahi panchayat of Rajnagar block have exhausted all their options to resolve basic problems their village has been facing.
The village lacks basic amenities like road connectivity and drinking water facility, Anganwadi centre, pucca houses or a toilet for more than seven decades.
Bandhapur has remained a backward village, thanks to the apathetic attitude of the administration or lack of political will.
Although the state government has introduced 5Ts to improve transparency, timely action and transformation, it did not help transform Bandhapur, rued the villagers.
About 35 families with a population of over 300 reside in the seaside village, situated 15 kilometres from here.
The village does not have proper road connectivity. The villagers use agricultural fields as thoroughfare to connect with the outer world due to lack of roads.
The people generally walk about two kilometres on the dykes to reach Brahmanasahi. During monsoon, they are forced to wade through knee-deep water in the fields, alleged villager Mrutyunjaya Patra. When some villagers fall sick, they are carried on baskets through the fields to reach at Brahmansahi from where they hire a taxi or call an ambulance to rush patients to the district headquarters hospital, informed Anjana Patra, a woman of Bandhapur.
“I bet you cannot find a pucca building or a toilet in our village. There are two tubewells in the village but we have abandoned one as its water is not fit for consumption,” said Narayan Mandal.
Nearly, 15 children of Bandhapur are forced to trek on the embankment of farms to reach an Anganwadi centre at Brahmanasahi. During rainy season, the kids do not go to the Anganwadi centre. Similarly, the 25 students walk through the fields to reach Brahmanasahi UP School and Badanaukona High School.
People in the seaside village panic when there is cyclone alert and they are shifted to Brahmanasahi shelter. They are forced to leave at least one member in each family to guard their house.
The villagers have met Block Development Officer (BDO) of Rajnagar and Kendrapara District Collector seeking basic amenities, but to no avail. When contacted, Collector Samarth Verma said he would direct the BDO and tehsildar of Rajnagar to go to the village and take steps to provide basic needs the villagers require.
