TV
Even after 25 years of uninterrupted BJD rule in Odisha, the lack of proper road connectivity and basic amenities in several villages has forced people to live in the dark ages. While the world is fast moving towards 5G, there are several villages that are still deprived of proper roads, mobile networks, drinking water, and even education facilities.
In a glaring example is the plight of Sundargarh’s Sanaburuda village under Gurundia block. With no bridge, people of this village have been forced to wade through or sometimes even swim in neck-deep water.
It has been decades since the villagers have been demanding a bridge, with no response from the officials concerned. With no help from the government, the villagers have themselves built a temporary bridge using stones, wood and electric poles.
Also Read | ‘Pandian Not Ruling us Now’: BJP MP Pradip Purohit pulls up JE over Development Works
The temporary bridge is the only source of communication for the villagers and school-going kids. Things turn worse when the temporary bridge gets submerged under water during the rainy season.
“This is the only way of communication to and from the village. We have to depend on this temporary bridge to go to the panchayat and the block. We have constructed the pole using stones, wood and electric poles. The situation gets worse for us when the bridge gets submerged under water during the Rainy season,” Bharat Minja, a Burada resident said.
“We get cut off from the rest of the world as students cannot go to school. Anganwadi is closed; we cannot even go to the market to get daily essentials. Patients have to be carried on cots as ambulances cannot reach our village,” he added.
Similarly, another resident said, “There is no one we have not approached for help, but no one cares for us. Forget bikes, sometimes we cannot cross when the river starts overflowing during the rainy season. Things get uglier when someone is serious and has to be taken to hospital.”
When contacted, RD executive engineer Jagannath Patra said, “We have given a proposal to the state government through our MLA to construct a bridge in the next five years. We will take up the bridge on a priority basis.”
