Dasmantapur: A road connecting Paika Phulatoda Sadar panchayat to Jhoparapadar under Dasmanthpur block in Koraput district has been in bad shape for over years. In the monsoon, its condition has worsened, giving a nightmarish experience to locals and commuters. In emergency cases, ambulance service has become a dream for the people of five villages, who have been reeling under commuting woes for years. Reports said, Jhoparapadar is seven kilometre away from Phulabeda Chhak.
People of the five villages – Maliguda, Salapguda, Tentuliguda and Madhu Bisali depend on the road on a daily basis. “Our misery compounds during monsoon as the road turns muddy and slippery. If a patient or pregnant woman needs emergency medical help, ambulance fails to get access to our villages due to bad road condition. In that case, we have to carry patients on cots up to Phulabeda Chhak from where the ambulance can shift the patients to the hospitals,” villagers Narayan Mali, Ullasi Mali and Padma Mali lamented. Locals alleged that Rs 16 lakh has been sanctioned for the road. A patch of the road has been metalled only up to Salapguda. The road work has been left half-way due to negligence of the contractor and a junior engineer, they added. Though the villagers have repeatedly written to the district administration to improve the road condition, no step has been taken till date. Our reporter had contacted assistant engineer Abhisekh Sarangi and junior engineer Bakul Chandra Murmu over phone, but the latter did not pick up the call. Villagers have decided to take up the issue with the district collector soon.