Keonjhar: Bhuyan tribals residing in Kanjiajharan Sahi village at Tamanga of Sibanarayanpur Goda panchayat under Telkoi block of Keonjhar district alleged that they have been neglected by the local administration. Many of them alleged that there is no all-weather-road to their village.
The tribals in the village face a plethora of problems in their daily lives, the first among them being an acute crisis of drinking water. They said that the only tubewell in the village has been lying defunct for a number of years now. So they have no option, but to drink water from an open pit.
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The tribals were once promised that they will be provided with the basic amenities, which eluded them over the years. Villagers like Faguni Dehuri, Kamala Dehuri, Gurubari Pradhan, Deba Dehuri and Sukuta Pradhan informed that they have even lost their ancestral houses.
Earlier, the tribals had been residing on a hill, close by. They were depending on shift cultivation and minor forest products. However, in the name of development, the local administration brought them to the foothill and tried to rehabilitate the tribals near Tamanga village in 1999.
More than 30 Bhuyan families reside in Kanjiajharan Sahi. The locality is just four kilometres away from the Sibanarayanpur Goda panchayat office and 13 kilometres away from Telkoi block headquarters.
On being contacted, Telkoi block development officer (BDO) Dillip Kumar Bara said, “We are unable to take up development work due to poor road connectivity. Recently, construction work has begun under MGNREGS for an all-weather road. However, forest and private lands are coming in the way and have slowed down construction.”
PNN