Ghasipura: Students along with their parents at Shalabani area under Anandapur block in Keonjhar district have done what the government has allegedly failed to do.
Making a perfect use of their Dussehara holidays, these stulaid a road in Chhatrakana village, six km from Anandapur.
They said they were inspired by the biography of Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das, who in his childhood, had repaired a road with the help of his friends during holidays.
The road was in a real mess. Students found it difficult to commute on the dirt road during rainy season. All through the rainy season, they had to carry their bicycles on their shoulders on the 1700-metre long road.
In emergency cases, carrying patients and pregnant women was a difficult task as it was inaccessible to auto rickshaws, ambulances and other vehicles.
Locals alleged they had drawn the attention of Anandapur BDO and sub-collector toward the miserable condition of the road several times, but to no avail.
Two years ago, `4.18 lakh was sanctioned for the road under MGNREGS. But no work was carried out. Surprisingly, the contractor made away with the funds sans any work. The villagers complained to the block administration, but nothing happened.
Finally, the villagers had taken up the matter with the district collector August 22, 2016. Thought he had ordered an inquiry, no action was taken, villagers lamented.
Sripati Nayak, a villager, had written to the Chief Secretary in this regard (CAC100/E/2016/00043). Later, the villagers had also written to the Prime Minister.
“As nobody was concerned about the bad shape of the road, students and villagers took the initiative to make the road. Upset with the administration, we decided to boycott the coming panchayat elections and decided to lay the patch of this road on our own,” they added.
They raised donations from all and filed up craters with gravels, murram and broken tiles.
As regards social work, Deepak Dehury, a Class-IX student, said, “We used to face a lot of difficulties during rainy season. We together with villagers wanted to make use of Dussehra holidays.”
Ranjan Nayak, another student, said they had to carry their bicycles and satchels on their shoulders on this one-and a-half-km stretch until Panchang. “As the government did not pay heed to our plight, we laid the road with the help of villagers,” he added.
Villager Sripati Nayak said, “Nobody—the BDO, collector, the government— listened to our basic problems. Why should we participate in elections? We repaired the road with our own funds and efforts.” PNN
