In an amazing display of unity and enterprise, the villagers of Kusiapala gram panchayat donated funds to construct a pucca house for their village post office after they found no financial assistance from the Government.
Modern communication technologies have in no way dented their love for the age-old postal services and hence, they constructed the building to get regular hassle free service from the department.
Sribascha Prasad Sahu, a local, said the Kusiapala post office was set up in 1947. Since the inception, it had been functioning in a thatched house. People from four gram panchayats, including Kusiapala, Barimula, Kurjanga and Kaupada depended on the post office for sending letters and receiving letters. They also availed other services like saving money, using telegram and several other services from the post office.
However, the thatched house of the office was damaged during the Super Cyclone in 1999 affecting the normal works in the office. During rainy season, its documents got drenched, he informed.
With a permanent pucca building appearing the only solution for the problems faced by the post office, the locals pleaded with the postal department, local MP and MlA to provide funds for constructing it but in vain. Biswanath Behera of Kusiapala, a retired engineer, who donated more than Rs 10,000 for constructing the building, said when the authorities failed to provide any assistance for the construction of the building, the villagers themselves resolved to do it on their own.
According to Adhikari Golakh Behari Das, Sarpanch of Kusiapala GP, two years back, the villagers had requested the local MP and MlA to provide funds for the purpose. Kendrapada MP Baijyanta Panda and Patkura MlA Bed Prakash Agrawalla had bluntly denied providing financial assistance for constructing the post office building. As a result, the locals decided they would construct a pucca house from individual donation.
The villagers, including retired officials, employees and businessmen organized a meeting at Kusiapala and decided that the building would be constructed by any means.
Initially Rs 1.5 lakh was collected and the building works started. It has been nearly completed. Only its plastering work has been left, the Sarpanch said.
Post master in-charge of Kusiapala Bansidhar Sahu praised the efforts of the locals for constructing the building.District headquarters post master Bijaya Ketan Patnaik said most of the rural post offices have no permanent buildings.
In remote villages, post masters run the Extra Department Branch Post Offices (EDPOs) from their homes or on the premises of gram panchayat offices and schools, he informed.