Malkangiri: Resentment is brewing in parts of Malkangiri district over a move to rename villages originally designated as ‘MV’ (Malkangiri Village), with members of the Bengali community expressing frustration and intellectuals calling for government intervention.
For more than 50 years, these villages have been home to refugees from Bangladesh, who were displaced during the post-Partition period and resettled in Odisha by the state government. Each family was allotted land and housing, and the villages were named sequentially as MV-1 through MV-200. The later settlements housing the next batch of refugees were named MPV (Malkangiri Potteru Village) starting from MPV-1 and beyond, covering more than 30 villages. Over 50 years on, these settlements have retained their numerical designations instead of being renamed or granted official revenue village status. The Bengali community has repeatedly petitioned the state government to assign formal names and recognise those as revenue villages. The government had promised to address the issue but had not followed through.
Recently, the state government issued directives to conduct gram sabhas (village assemblies) in every panchayat of the district to approve the proposed name changes. However, resistance has emerged during these assemblies, with members of 14 tribal communities opposing the move. As a result, several gram sabhas have rejected the proposals. Tension has been reported in multiple areas, with confrontations between the opposing groups during these gram sabhas.
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On Thursday, the proposals were struck down in Udupa, Serapalli, Padmagiri, and Gorakhunta panchayats, leading to dissatisfaction and unrest among the Bengali residents. In response to the growing unrest, intellectual circles are calling on the state government to step in and fi nd a resolution that balances the concerns of all communities involved.
