Koraput: Punjisil, a tribal hamlet, is just 6 km from Mujang Panchayat; and from Dasmantpur block headquarters in Koraput district, 45 km.
To reach this village there is no choice but to trek the hilly terrain from Mujang. This nondescript village, tucked away in the jungles, is home to 54 ‘Paraja’ community families. They are residing there without basic amenities, earning their livelihood solely from cultivation.
Even so many years after the Independence, they are yet to get a fair weather road to their village. In case they need to go out of their village for any purpose, they usually walk 6 km of hilly terrain, unaware of lurking dangers, to reach Mujang panchayat.
When it comes to transporting a patient or a pregnant woman to hospital, they have to carry them on a cot up to the nearest road head.
The available education system is not encouraging as well. “The lone Anganwadi centre here opens once in a blue moon, depriving the children of pre-school education and food provided at Anganwadi centres,” said villagers like Krushna Badnayak, Neelambar Badnayak and Tanka Badnayak. Eggs and sattu the centre gets are being siphoned off, they alleged.
There is a primary school atop the hill where 25 students enrolled in five classes from Class I to Class V attend. Due to the adverse location of the school, drinking water facility is yet to be made available to the students.
“The drinking water problem has been taken up with the District Education Officer on many occasions, but yielded no result as yet,” alleged headmaster Manoranjan Das.
The villagers are also facing acute drinking water problem. The district administration, however, has put up a tank that gets water from a tube well and the facility runs on solar power. As the tank is without cover, leaves, dust and bird droppings contaminate the water. This apart, the tank has a leakage too. “Our drinking water problem is perennial in nature. At times, we are forced to use water from creeks, though we know it is not advisable,” rued villagers like Agani Badnayak, Rabak Badnayak and Kumudini Dami.
In case of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana, the village lags far behind. None of the villagers has got a house under these Yojanas in the past two to three years.
Since none — neither Mujang Panchayat Extension Officer nor block officials or the district administration — shows any interest towards solving their problems, the villagers urged the administration to take steps to end their problems.
PNN