Joda: A rural road project being laid under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) through a forest land has triggered a controversy in Champua range of Keonjhar district.
People of Jamirta and Kamalpur villages have strongly opposed construction of the road on a forest land. They have also alleged that the contractor was messing up the construction work.
Reports said the rural development department has awarded the contract to a person to lay 8.76-km road from Jurudi to Kamalpur. The contractor has started construction from Panpokharia. The road is laid through a patch of forest land. The project entails 16 culverts and some bridges.
“Instead of executing the work properly, the contractor has botched it up. Old culverts and bridges are being repaired. Soil is being dug out from private land and forest land and used in the road work while murram should have been used,” villagers of Kamalpur alleged.
Digging or making use of forest land is in complete violation of the Forest Conservation Act. Any work on forest land needs the permission of the forest department.
A number of villagers including Prasant Ghana, Mitrabhanu Behera, Kamalakant Behera, Bholanath Ghana, Sarat Ghana and Niranjan Ghana have raised questions over the durability of the road project for which crores of rupees are being spent.
The villagers had opposed the substandard work at the worksite June 22. They alleged that the contractor had engaged some hooligans to threaten the locals.
Similarly, people of Jamirta accused the contractor of laying the road on the forest land.
When asked about the illegality, Balibandh forester Khageswar Barik said that no permission was given to the contractor to use the forest land. The matter will be investigated, he added.
Junior engineer of RD department Ranjit Nayak said that the project had been stalled due to the substandard work but later the work resumed. “The matter will be investigated,” the JE added.
Keonjhar divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi said, “If forest land has been dug out, the department will definitely take action.”
PNN