Kendrapara, June 13: With the monsoons lashing Kendrapara district, 886 dilapidated roads here have further added to the woes of local commuters.
Funds for construction of 430 rural roads in the district were sanctioned this fiscal year under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). About 456 district roads still await approval of the district administration.
As against this, only one rural road has been constructed so far. Road communication to Singha Gaon panchayat, which is otherwise known as a ‘Dhoya’ (flood-prone) area, got cut off due to the non-completion of the access roads.
Residents of several villages under Mahakalpada and Rajnagar blocks face the danger of being deprived of emergency services, as the villages have become inaccessible.
A villager of Mahakalpada Sunil Gantayat said, “Black tar from the service roads along dykes were removed on the pretext of strengthening the embankment walls, ahead of 2019 general elections”.
Construction of the service roads has been left half way. Dykes of the river Luna from Kalapada up to Rankala village and service road on the right side dyke of the river Chitrotpala have become completely dilapidated, he added.
Roads in Kendrapara district get battered due to the neglect of the Water Resources, Public Works and Panchayati Raj departments and also the block administration, local villagers complained.
A social activist of Mahakalpada Bibhuti Rout said, “Road communication to remote areas in Kendrapara district is a perennial problem, which has not yet been resolved”.
Reacting to this, project director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Dillip Kumar Parida said, “Several meetings have been held in the past days over road communication problems and departments concerned have been alerted accordingly”.
“Coronavirus outbreak and cyclonic storm Amphan delayed the road construction work this year,” he added.
Notably, some prominent roads like Barakul Panchayat-Mount, Bijaynagar haat-Biswal Sahi and several other under construction roads need immediate attention.
PNN