Novel protest: Road turns paddy field as villagers plant saplings on it!

Bonai: Residents of five villages in Bonai of Sundargarh district today staged protests in a novel manner over non-availability of a motorable road by planting paddy saplings on the existing 5-km thoroughfare.

Though more than 1,000 residents of five villages depend on the road connecting Bijadihi and Saragadihi, the thoroughfare becomes hard to commute with mud all across during monsoon days.

Forget about movement of vehicles on the thoroughfare, villagers walk the road with shoes in hands to cross the five-km stretch, alleged agitating villagers.

The woes augment when the 108 ambulance or ‘Janani Express’ vehicle is held up on the road after a spell of rain. The villagers thereby are forced to carry patients in slings to a nearby hospital, the villagers added.

School students too face hardship to reach school in the absence of a good road.

Despite repeated requests, the local administration has failed to provide a commutable road, alleged the villagers.

On being asked about the matter, the local BDO refused to comment.