Bhograi: The prevailing border dispute with West Bengal in several fringe villages under this block in Balasore district is yet to be resolved despite hullabaloo by elected representatives at various forums. Under such a circumstance, the people of one such village have been left in the lurch owing to dual administration by both the states, a report said.
The inhabitants of Sankhamedi village, who are gradually losing touch with their tradition, culture, literature and education, now face an identity crisis.
Residents of 82 fringe villages on Orissa side are more or less facing similar problems, but the state government has allegedly been slow to fix the problems
for all.
According to reports, West Bengal has been claiming its right of ownership on fringe villages like Udaypur, Sahbajipur, Sankhamedi, Sagadasahu, Bagdhadasahi and Rajabandh.
But the people of Sankhemundi in Analia panchayat under this block are in a quandary and seek to know whether they belong to West Bengal or Orissa.
Surprisingly, the village, surrounded by Purushottampur and Santoshpur of West Bengal, has found a place in the map of the neighbouring state. This has left the residents fuming.
The Orissa government had been collecting revenue from the people from 1923 to 1980, though the village got included in Ramnagar block of West Bengal since 1975.
The Orissa government had set up a primary school, built roads, drilled tube wells in the village. Most importantly, the government has been providing subsidized food stuff to the residents till now.
A big controversy raged in 1990 when then revenue minister Surendra Nath Nayak visited the village and latter said the village has been given away to the neighbouring state. But activists of several outfits including Utkala Sammilani strongly opposed the minister’s statement.
In 2003, former revenue minister Biswabhusan Harichandan told a press conference that Sankhamedi belongs to Orissa.
Two years later, then revenue minister Manmohan Samal while speaking at Utkala Sammilani asserted Orissa’s rights of claim on fringe villages like Sankhamedi, Udaypur, Sahabajipur, Sagadashi and Rajabandh. Samal had then noted that an inch of land belonging to Orissa will not be spared to the neighbouring state.
Despite such claims by political leaders of the state, confusion still prevails as to which state the village belongs to.
Since 1992, about 300 people of the village with a population of 450 have been exercising their voting rights in both the states.
A new school building has been set up on the premises of the old primary school in 2008 under Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan. An Anganwadi centre is running from the old school building while the West Bengal government has set up a Sishu Sikhya Kendra in the heart of the village.
The state government has also provided rickshaws to 12 poor families, set up eight lift irrigation points, supplied electricity, built 65 toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, included 80 families under NFSA and given pension to 25 persons in the village.
On the other hand, many residents have got other facilities like houses under Indira Awas Yojana from West Bengal government.
The Bengal administration has also exercised its dominance in Udayapur. It had demolished a cyclone warning centre set up in 1982 by Orissa at Sahabajipur, opposed a road project in Udayapur and Marine police station at Talsari.
Recently, Bengal also objected to the Rajabandh irrigation project under Jaleswar block.
Several times in the past, sand mafia had forcibly lifted sand from ghats at Bilashpur, Mankadia, Kuanrpur and other areas.
Bhograi MLA Ananta Das had raised the boundary dispute in the Assembly, but no concrete step has been taken to sort it out. PNN
