Manmunda: Residents of Mahulabali in Sambalpur district have alleged of large scale irregularities in the construction of road from NH 57 to Mahulabali Nupra village.
Sources said residents of the village are facing communication problems due to the bad shape of the road. After repeated allegations by the villagers, the district rural development department (DRDA) had taken the responsibility of reconstruction of the road from the panchayat department.
The DRDA had constructed the road under Pradhan Mantri Gramya Sadak Yojana (PMGS) from NH-57 to the village at a cost of Rs 1, 35, 85, 000. However, the villagers expressed their resentment over poor quality of work as after one month of completion of the work the road has developed several cracks at various places. All these have raised questions on the durability of road.
Earlier, the condition of the road was in such a miserable state that even the two wheelers could not ply. So the department had constructed the road on a war footing that was within a month. But the villagers are facing the same problem even after the construction of the road.
In another case, a kutchha road was constructed by the panchayat department at Mahulabali and Nurpa village. But villagers alleged that the department had misappropriated the sanctioned money by producing false bills as no road was constructed by the department.
It was further alleged that the guard wall was constructed at a site where it was not required. Villagers claimed this as an out and out case of misappropriation. According to the villagers, the departmental officers and contractors are involved in all these irregularities. The department reconstructed the road Sunday morning. But the villagers alleged that the department is using substantial products in the repair work.
Villagers like Hemanta Mahakud, Nepal Bagh, Dhrub Bagarti and ward member Nakul Bagh demanded the re-construction of the road again. Though the correspondent tried reaching Manmunda RD JEE, the latter did not receive the calls.
PNN