Residents of Jharagagua, Parposhi, Jharmunda, Dimirikuda and Gandam panchayats in Deogarh district held up traffic at Tileibani Square on National Highway 49 on Wednesday demanding access to mobile network services by local people.
In times of digital world and digital India, the panchayats are still lacking mobile connectivity which lead villagers to remain cut off from rest of the world. They had made several complaints to district administration in this regard but in vain.
Irked over the issue, the villagers had also decided to boycott panchyat elections. They participated in the poll following the administration’s assurance that a private mobile company would start construction of a mobile tower. After election, the administration seems to have forgotten their requests. As a result, villagers of five panchayats are yet to avail mobile network services.
Ajit Parida, a resident, said, “Our repeated pleas to provide mobile services to the state government and district administration for last five years have yielded no results. We are yet to avail mobile services connectivity thanks to government’s apathy. That’s why we launched a 12-hour long agitation on NH. We would hold up traffic for 24 hours if our demands are not met at the earliest.”
Khyamasagar Nayak, another agitator, said, “Our kids had failed to attend online classes due to lack of mobile services in our localities during corona time. We have been requesting the government for the same for last five years but none has paid heed to our pleas. Government’s failure to address our issues prompted us to stage a road blockage.”