Malkangiri: With the urban local body (ULB) elections drawing closer, people in some wards of Malkangiri municipality are sore over absence of basic facilities and land pattas.
Some of the residents have even decided to boycott the polls. Reports said people of ward no3, 7, 14 and 17 of the civic body have expressed their unhappiness over the civic amenities.
Ward-3 has over 1,500 voters while 400 families have been deprived of pattas of their dwelling place, even though they have been residing in the municipality area for years.
“We are tired of frequenting to the collectorate and the tehsil office for pattas. As it yielded no results, we moved the court for the land rights. We have decided to boycott poll this time,” residents said.
The same is the issue in ward 17 where 1,000 voters will exercise their franchise. “We will boycott polls unless we get written assurance from the administration. We will continue our agitation against the administrative apathy towards us,” they fumed.
In ward 7, some streets have remained inundated for the last four months due to cracks in underground water pipes.
“The continuous water logging of streets has left the roads in bad shape, giving bumpy ride to the commuters. We had drawn attention of the public health and engineering organisation (PHEO) authorities several times in the past, but no action was taken,” they said.
PNN