Bantala: Fed up with the apathy of the administration to build a concrete road, villagers of Sankrida village of Kothabhuin panchayat located in Satkosia sanctuary under Angul block have decided to do the job themselves.
They have felled a large number of trees in the forest and used the logs to make the muddy village road commutable. Approximately 350 persons live in Sankrida village. Since there is no commutable road through the village, the residents find it difficult to move about, especially during the monsoons.
The condition of the six-kilometre long road which runs to their village from the panchayat headquarters turns inaccessible during the rainy season.
According to village committee chairman Jitendra Pradhan and secretary Prashant Sahu, Angul is a district with many industries. It also provides substantial amount of revenues to the state coffers. “Yet we don’t have an all-weather road. After taking up the issue with the district administration on several occasions, the Works Department had initiated process to lay a concrete road. For this, the department also awarded the tender to a firm one-and-a-half years ago but it has not started construction yet,” informed the villagers
“We were at the end of our tether. Hence we decided to get the road commutable and since last Friday we have been working on it,” they added.
Bhaktabandhu Biswal, a villager, said, “Most of us grow vegetables in our backyards. We face a lot trouble in taking them to nearby markets. Carrying baskets of vegetables on our heads we have to wade through knee- deep mud. There have been many instances when people have suffered injuries after falling down due to the slippery conditions.”
When asked, Angul Works Department, assistant engineer Binay Kumar Padhi said confirmed that Sankrida village needs a concrete road. He promised stringent action against the firm which has been given the responsibility of building the road. “A fresh tender will be floated soon and in this regard a letter has already been written to the executive engineer for his approval,” Padhi informed.
PNN