Nagada village in Jajpur district, which is infamously known as Ethiopia of Odisha, has finally got a road connecting the hilltop where Juang tribals are staying.
After the village hogged limelight following death of 19 children due to malnutrition within a span of three months between May and July 2016, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, under scathing attack from the Opposition and criticism from various corners, had laid the foundation stone for a pucca road in November last.
The construction of the road was taken up on war-footing under the leadership of present Collector Ranjan Kumar Das.
“The new road, at least for the time being, has facilitated journey to the village by pick-up vans and hilly terrain-friendly vehicles. Very soon passenger vehicles will run on the road, enabling the tribals to come down the hill for their day-to-day works,” Jajpur Collector Das said on Thursday.
In fact on Wednesday, RDC AB Otta, Collector Das and other senior officials, who in the last November had to trek the hill for six hours with the help of walking sticks to reach to the village, reached the village by a Mahindra Bolero vehicle and reviewed the progress of nutritional programme and other Government works like solar lighting, digging of ponds, construction of a community school and community house buildings.
The Juanga tribals hailed the Government officials with forest flowers and by performing dance and music.
In August, 2017, Chief Minister Patnaik had formed a Special Task Force (STF) to look into the issue over the malnutrition deaths at Nagada.
Before the new road was constructed, the villagers had to move more than 15 km through a dense forest to reach the motorable Daitary-Paradip road to get their basic necessities.