Keonjhar: The villagers of Kusumundia under tribal-dominated Handichandanpur block in Keonjhar have done what the government failed to do. They have set an example for other villages by laying a 2-km road to their village with their own efforts.
The villagers took the noble initiative after the administration failed to pay heed to their repeated demand for reconstruction of their village road.
The residents of the tribal village in Sunapetha panchayat said the Kusumundia-Kantal road has been in bad shape for last 10 years. They had to face a lot of commuting problems due to miserable condition of the road.
“Crores of rupees are spent on development of the Maoist-hit areas, but this village was left underdeveloped. The road was unsafe to walk on,” the villagers lamented.
They also said that they had drawn the attention of the people’s representatives at the panchayat level and those at the block level. Assurances were give every time, but nothing was done while the government keeps pumping in crores of rupees for developing roads in other rural pockets, they villagers pointed out.
The villagers sought to know why the administration sits pretty while villagers, students of schools and colleges, officials of the panchayat and block walk on the road, which was once motorable.
“We villagers got united and repaired the 2-km road without the help of the administration,” said villagers like Bimba Patra, Gurucharan Patra, Litu Patra, Ram Kuldi, Gobardhan patra, Nanda patra, Benu Mahapatra, Chema Kuldia.
They also demanded that the administration take immediate steps for reconstruction of the road.
