Nuapada: Residents of several villages near Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary in Nuapada district decided to ‘leave Odisha’ Saturday alleging administrative apathy towards their local issues.
According to sources, the villagers allege that they are being deprived of the basic amenities for several decades. Villagers of Sunabeda and Soseng panchayat have been running from pillar to post, but their problems are not being addressed.
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They have decided to leave Odisha and incline to the neighbouring Chhattisgarh if their long-standing demands will not be addressed by the district administration soon, a villager of Soseng panchayat said.
Basic amenities like road, school, hospital and drinking water are still a day dream for the villagers, the locals alleged.
“We are deprived of our basic rights. The government has been making excuses stating that no roads can be built here as it comes under the sanctuary area. We are treated as humans before every election but after the polls are over, they (government) treat us like animals,” a villager of Sunabeda, Bijay Jhakar fumed.
“Even after over 70 years of independence, we are deprived of basic facilities. In a meeting attended by people of both the panchayats, Sunabeda and Soseng, we took the decision to leave Odisha to get basic amenities that are essential foundation for a decent living,” Sunabeda sarpanch Tilsingh Jhakar expressed in a similar vein.
PNN