Joda: Nine year ago, Lunagothani, a non-descript village under this block in Keonjhar district, had grabbed newspaper headlines for all the wrong reasons. Eleven children of the village had died of an undiagnosed disease while over 200 were affected by it.
The village had virtually tuned into a spot of political tourism with leaders including former minister Pramila Mallick, then OPCC chief Jaydev Jena, former minister Niranjan Patnaik and former Union minister Srikant Jena taking stock of the situation.
Nine years later, the situation in the tribal village, just 22 km away from here, remains more or less the same. The residents are still deprived of basic facilities like road connectivity, drinking water and electricity.
With tube wells lying defunct for years, the tribals are forced to consume water from ponds and ditches, putting their health at risk.
“We are still living in the dark. Our village is deprived of rural electrification schemes,” said Raidas Munda, Mansingh Munda, Suren Munda, Jaysingh Munda, Raj Munda, Nage Munda, Dulai Munda, Manju Munda, and Banabasi Munda.
Moreover, many kids have been affected by multiple ailments, but healthcare has remained a dream for them, the villagers added. A case in point is Jalha Munda, who has been suffering from an undiagnosed fever. With medical care out of bounds, Jalha’s family resorted to sorcery and traditional healing to cure him of his ailment.
The absence of a road makes the village inaccessible for ambulances and other vehicles. Teachers often ply truant at the lone school is the village, locals said.
The tribal residents eke out their living by collecting and selling minor forest produce while some work in mines. Often their wages from the mines get delayed, the villagers said, adding they face a lot of difficulty in availing subsidised rice from a fair price retail outlet situated 5 km away from the village. Demanding immediate provision of drinking water facility, the villagers urged the health administration to send a medical team to the village.
BDO Arun Kumar Mallick said the CDPO had visited the village and prepared a report. Necessary steps will be taken on the basis of the report, Mallick added. The BDO said the CDMO will be apprised of the health scenario in the village.
Some conscious citizens observed that crores of rupees are being spent from the District Mineral Fund to provided basic facilities in mining affected areas, but no attention was paid to ameliorate the impoverishing condition of the tribals. PNN
