Patrapur: Rainy season turns a nightmare for people in some hilltop villages of Ankuli panchayat under this tribal-dominated block in Ganjam district as the link with rest of the world gets disconnected with heavy flow of flood waters in Bahuda river.
With no road connectivity in place, tribal men, women and children are seen crossing the river with the help of some fragile wooden logs risking their lives.
Apart from the people of Beherapatu, Maduagumma, Elgal, Majhiban, Baniabasa, Sisrisgandh of Patrapur block, many others from Chilibanka village of Gajapati district also reach the other end of the river with the help of logs. People, including the school kids, first trek long stretches of hilly terrain by walking and then cross the river hazardously. The critical patients are taken near the river in slings and then shifted on a cot to avail health care service, according to reports.
Some tribals alleged that the administration prefers to please the contractors by setting up a number of bridges on rivers flowing on even lands while the officials conveniently forget the plight of tribals. A bridge on Bahuda river has become a dream for them, they added.
A few days back, some of the villagers met the officials of nearby Baghalati reservoir seeking a bridge on the river but nothing came their way, it was learnt.
On the other hand, some villagers claimed it is not only the rainy season, they cross the river dangerously for nearly eight months a year as the river is connected with Baghalati reservoir.
The villagers, to get their rations or to avail basic health care facilities at the foothill, have no option but to use the wooden logs which can crack at any moment and make people fall into the river, feared the tribals.
They demanded the administration as well as the government to look into their problems at the earliest. PNN