Keonjhar: Over 72 years after Independence, Kendughati village in Bansapal block of Keonjhar district has no road.
Upset over the backwardness and official apathy, the tribal villagers have sent a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the administration. They demanded road connectivity and a bridge across river Baitarani.
In the memorandum, the villagers said over 1,000 tribals live in the village, but they have to face a lot of commuting problems while going to the panchayat, block and district headquarters.
“The only means of communication for the villagers is country boats. Schoolchildren, patients and people carrying PDS material have to depend on the boats every day,” they rued.
Though they have drawn the attention of the block and the district administrations towards the need for road connectivity and a bridge, no step is being taken in this direction, the villagers added.
“Ambulance service is inaccessible in the village. Patients and pregnant women are ferried across the river in rickety boats and then have to be carried about 1 km on a kutcha road to reach to the ambulance,” they narrated.
In the rainy season, the village is surrounded by floodwaters for days together. In view of the perennial commuting problem, people refuse to give their daughters in marriage in this village, the villagers lamented.
The government has been spending crores of rupees for development of tribals and tribal regions, but in this case the government has neglected development, alleged lawyer Daitari Apat.
The underdevelopment of the region indicates apathy of the government towards tribals, he observed.