Alleging government apathy, Odisha villagers build road by themselves

In an unprecedented display of frustration over alleged government apathy, local residents of a tribal-dominated village in Odisha, constructed a 4 km road to their hamlet all by themselves.

Reports of this incident surfaced from the Pappadahandi block of Nabarangpur district where the villagers of Kusumkhunta built the 4 km road over two months of continuous labour after year-long demands for an all-weather road allegedly fell to deaf ears.

Sources stated that demands for a road intensified when about four years ago, villagers had to carry a pregnant woman on their shoulders due to the lack of roads.

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Ever since the incident, locals have sent repeated pleas to their local MLA of Dabugam, Manohar Randhari, for proper connectivity to the village, all of which were allegedly never fulfilled despite assurances.

The lack of roads even prevented the movement of essential services like ambulances and made government schemes inaccessible to the villagers as officials were unable to reach them.

“It has been 5 years since the MLA had promised to build a road but no one, not even the BDO, has visited our village to address this complaint,” claimed Purandar, a resident of Kusumkhunta village.

Deciding to take action by themselves, residents of the village spent months clearing dense forests and undergrowth. Subsequently, they shoveled large quantities of mud and constructed a makeshift road from their village to the main roads of the district.

“All of us, kids and elders alike, contributed towards the building of this road as we had waited enough for a response by the government,” said Mukta Majhi, an elderly resident of the village.

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Meanwhile, MLA Randhari cited forest land permissions as the hurdle behind road construction. “Since it is forest land, we are waiting for approval from the forest department following which a robust road to Kusumkhunta will be constructed,” he stated.