Malkangiri: Residents of Jumdang, a non-descript village in Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri district, are on cloud nine as they are all set to exercise their franchise in the upcoming panchayat elections in Odisha for the first time since Independence.
Elated and enthusiastic, they are eagerly waiting for the polls, said sources. Significantly, the landscape of the village has changed remarkably with a lot of development works undertaken after the launch of ‘Gurupriya Setu’.
Once inaccessible, the hill-locked village now has roads. Earlier, people used to commute by riding horses in hilly foot tracks. They had to depend on Andhra Pradesh for their daily needs as the village didn’t have access to the mainland of Odisha.
The neighbouring Andhra government, which has been attempting to stake its claim on Kotia in Koraput, has also set its sights on some of the fringe villages in ‘Swabhiman Anchal’.
The people of Jumdang are no longer lured by a host of facilities like voter cards, subsidised rice, free electricity, schools, drinking water, welfare schemes, other sops and Aadhaar cards being offered by Andhra Pradesh.
Unmoved by the lure, the villagers are inclined towards Odisha and have assured to take part in the Odisha panchayat polls.
The neighbouring state has built schools and is providing education to the children in Telugu language, apart from providing free electricity and other welfare measures.
Earlier, AP had played a dirty trick by showing Jumdang as part of its territory in the Google map. Jumdang residents used to take part in all the elections held in Pedabaylu mandal of Visakhapatnam district.
However, they have apparently decided to say goodbye to Andhra Pradesh and are no longer to fall in the trap of the neighbouring state.
PNN