Hold one-day fast
The residents of Kuchinda have reiterated their demand for a new district consisting of the sub divisional area. The demand for the district is not new and it has come up again since the residents of Kuchinda find it difficult to come to the district headquarters at Sambalpur situated 75 km away.
Immediately after independence, Kuchinda became a sub division in 1948. But during the 90s when the then Chief Minister Biju Patnaik bifurcated the districts, Kuchinda was kept under the new Deogarh district. But the residents of the sub division including sitting MlA Brundaban Majhi protested to go to Deogarh citing different reasons.
Then a demand had surfaced for declaring Kuchinda as a new district. In the recent development, the residents have again demanded for a separate district as the entire sub division is dominated by tribals and is culturally different from rest part of the Sambalpur district.
looking into the reality, the Government also converted it to an ITDA sub-division in 1976. “Kuchinda has been neglected for far too long. Development is still a far cry here due to several factors. The distance between Sambalpur and Kuchinda is the root of all evil. Hence, we demand a separate district,” said Kuchinda Jilla Gathan Samity president Pradipta Sharma.
Members of the Samity including Kuchinda lawyers’ Association, Kuchinda Bus Owners’ Association and other organisations held a dharna in front of the office of the local Sub Collector and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister.