There are five villages on one side of the river while panchayat office, block office, school, college and hospital are on the other side of the river. This is the story of Sishua Panchayat under Puri’s Astarang block.
The people of five villages are forced to cross the Prachi river by boat to reach the block office just eight kms away. If not by boat, they travel almost 40 kilometres by road to reach the otherside. As a result, a country-made boat is the only means for the locals of Chhenu, Tandahar, Kalamkani, Akkada and Udayakani villages to go to schools, colleges and hospital.
As per reports, more than a thousand people live in these five villages. Although there is a road link to Konark and Kakatpur for the movement of the people, it takes forty kilometres on the Kakatpur road to reach their block. As a result, the people here have chosen the boat to reach the block in a shorter time.
"It is too difficult to cycle for 40kms to go around and reach our school. The boat too is not available every day. The day we can’t find the boat, we miss the school. I request the administration to build a bridge here for which we will remain grateful to them," said a student, Sonali Swain.
An Udayakani villager, Subrat Swain said, "Our Panchayat office and block office are on the other side of the river. So we have to use the boat to cross this river every day. Students cross the river every day to study."
Located just 100 metres from the sea, these villages have always braved sea tides and cyclones. In the absence of a bridge, it becomes difficult to relocate the villagers immediately during natural calamities. So the villagers have been repeatedly demanding the construction of a bridge between Keutjanga village and Tandahar, near the mouth of the Prachi, Kadua and Devi rivers.
Meanwhile, the SDO of the Rural Development Department informed that the survey for the construction of the bridge has been completed and a proposal has been made to the government.
“We inspected the area between Tandahara and Keutajanga a few days back. We will send the proposal of a bridge to our higher authorities. The villagers will be benefited if the project is approved,” said Kakatpur Rural Development SDO, Trilochan Patra.