Malkangiri: Residents of Katamateru village, 30 kilometres from here, have threatened to agitate seeking merger of their village with Sukma district in neighbouring Chhattisgarh citing lack of basic amenities and poor roads, a report suggests.
The shocking development came after hundreds of villagers of Katamateru under Matapaka panchayat and Sadar block congregated at a meeting Tuesday after their demand for a pucca road failed to move the authorities in the past 20 years.
The village is just about 2-km from River Saberi in Chhattisgarh while the district headquarters town of Sukma in the neighbouring state is only 8-km away.
Villagers Bhima Madkami, Deva Beti, Jaga Madkami, Jaga Kunjami, Raja Madi, Bhaima Madi and others said they have decided to meet District Collector to seek his intervention to merge their village in Sukma district.
The villagers have decided to visit Sukma on January 20 to meet District Collector and submit an application urging him to take measures to merge their village with Sukma district and provide them all social welfare benefits denied to them by Odisha government. Officials of Malkangiri district are invariably callous and apathetic to their needs, they rued.
The village houses 150 families of primitive Koya tribe who suffer in silence as the state government has failed to relay a 6-km road connecting Katamateru which is full of potholes and craters.
The bumpy road condition is such that no vehicle can enter their village even at times of emergency. The villagers are yet to see ambulances numbering 102 or 108. A pregnant woman had to be carried on a cot for six km before boarding an ambulance to reach the district headquarters hospital.
The only silver lining is an Ashram School where 300 students reside. Matapaka sarpanch and residents have been demanding construction of the road for the past 20 years.
The residents had earlier adopted a resolution at the panchayat and submitted it to District Collector demanding a road. But, their demands have gone unheard.
The muddy road is in such a shape that the locals including students have to trek on foot while carrying provisions on their shoulders for school or for their homes. The villagers in desperation had tried to draw attention of the administration about the road by planting paddy saplings on the road in July, 2019. Although many reports on the plight of the village have been published, it has failed to awaken the administration.