The villagers of lochapada located on the outskirts of Brahampur city are suffering from acute lack of internal communication system even after 65 years of the country’s Independence.
After 50 years of the Congress rule, the BJD is in power for the last 14 years, but neither the district administration nor the local representatives have paid any attention to construct pucca roads connecting the streets in the village, causing a great deal of inconvenience to the residents, said a poor old woman of the village.
Most importantly, there is no road between Khanjipadia Sahi and Nuabandh Sahi where the optimal population of the village resides. lochapada is coming under Neemakhandi panchayat and under the revenue ambience of Kukudakhandi block which is represented by none other than Revenue Minister Surjya Narayan Patro. The communication system of Ward-9 in particular is worse than any other village.
Mention may be made that two days back a villager, Siba Sankar Sahu, a plumber by profession, wanted to take a serious patient to the MKCG Medical College Hospital in Brahmapur in late night, but no rickshaw puller or auto driver was willing to take the patient solely on the ground that the village road is narrow and muddy. “Had we not arranged alternative measures to lift the patient up to the main road, the patient would have died,” said Sahu with sadness writ large on his face.
The repeated appeals of the villagers to the local elected representatives for construction of an internal pucca roads between the streets of the village since last several years remain unheeded, said another villager, Sankar Behera. According to information, a sum of Rs 7 lakh was reportedly earmarked (Rs 4 lakh from the sarpanch fund and Rs 3 lakh from Sabhya fund) for construction of roads, but no works have yet been started for reasons best known to the district administration.
Paying due regard to the public perception, former Assembly Deputy Speaker and veteran BJP leader Rama Chandra Panda has demanded that internal pucca roads at lochapada be constructed without delay to provide relief to the villagers who are deprived of basic communication infrastructure.