Kesinga: Four years have passed since the construction of central kendu leaf warehouse building in Kesinga town of Kalahandi district. The facility, however, is yet to be used. The building now resembles a haunted house after lying unused for such a long period.
The two-storey building has a warehouse, ranger’s quarters, forest guards’ quarters and an office. The construction started in financial year 2018-19. Meanwhile, four years have passed but the facility does not have a plaque mentioning details like the cost of the project.
Investigation reveals that a former ranger was suspended on charges of misappropriating lakhs of rupees, spelling a doom for the facility. The tainted ranger is yet to hand over the building to the department, it was learnt.
The forest guards’ quarters don’t have doors and windows. They don’t have power connectivity either.
The office is presently functioning from an old dilapidated building. The officials and other staff here face a lot of issues- particularly in rainy season.
The warehouse in the building lying unused has been giving rise to storing issues as well. It has been constructed to store kendu leaf bundles of 62 godowns (fadis).
This financial year, a target of plucking 1,05,00,000 kendu leaves has been fixed. In April alone, 2,00,000 kendu leaves were bought from the pluckers. The department is facing issues storing them.
When contacted, ranger Daitari Nayak said, “I have recently joined. So I can’t say anything as to why the facility has not been made operational yet.”