Patrapur: After Kotia, Andhra Pradesh is now eyeing more bordering villages under Patrapur block in Ganjam district.
There are some villages in Buratala, Tumba, Ambapur, Gundra, Khambaringa, Barang, Kesharipada, Binuagaon and Gudipadar panchayats under Patrapur block that share borders with Andhra Pradesh.
Gudikhala of Buratala panchayat is one of villages.
The moment you reach here, you cannot but feel the presence of the Andhra Pradesh government. Calendars trumpeting the welfare activities taken up by the AP government can be seen pasted on the walls of several houses.
The district administration on the other side of the border has carried out some developmental projects in this village.
An investigation reveals that the villagers, mostly tribals, have State-provided ration cards and Voter Identity cards mentioning them as the residents of Gudikhala village, whereas seven cards have been made available to them by the AP government, claiming them to be the residents of Kurudalu village of Budarasingi panchayat under Mandasa mandal in Srikakulam district.
Among those are Voter Identity cards, ration cards, Aadhaar cards, pension cards and health insurance. Gudikhala is not the only village where the residents have such cards provided by the AP government.
There are some tribals residing in Gudikhali village of Gangabada panchayat under Rayagada block in Gajapati district who also have such cards.
It is alleged that despite being in Odisha, the villagers of these two villages of Patrapur and Rayagada blocks in Ganjam and Gajapati districts respectively have been deprived of benefits from the Odisha government.
Access to basic amenities like drinking water, electricity and road connectivity had been in the wish list of these villagers.
Cashing in on it, the AP government has won the hearts of the villagers and lured them to its side by providing them electricity, drinking water and education facilities, ration items and Rs 2,250 monthly pension to elderly people.
In Gudikhala village, some villagers have got housing facility from the Patrapur block administration under Indira Awas Yojana, while some others have houses provided by the AP government.
Information leaflets about the AP government facilties are seen hanging on the walls. These information sheets highlight all the details like the list of welfare schemes and the amount of money being provided to the beneficiaries.
Listing out the benefits from the AP government, the locals said they receive Rs 500 as monthly pension (old age pension) from Buratala panchayat whereas Rs 2,250 is provided by the Tarisingi panchayat in Andhra Pradesh.
“We are 27 tribal families in the village. We suffered a lot due to absence of proper road communication facility. The block administration continued to ignore our problems. It is the AP government that constructed a road up to Kalinga Dala reservoir,” observed some villagers.
For medical facilities too, they depend on Siripur health centre in AP instead of a nearby hospital of the Odisha government. In case of medical emergency, they spend around Rs 300 if they go to the nearest health centre in Odisha.
But they receive free healthcare services at Siripur health centre in the neighbouring state. The villagers have accused the officials of Odisha government of being apathetic towards their plight.
“Officers from Andhra Pradesh visit us to know our difficulties. But we have not seen any Odisha officers in our villages, even once,” they lamented.
PNN