Malkangiri: At a time when the Odisha government is expediting construction work of Gurupriya bridge to connect to the residents of the cut-off area to the mainland, Maoists are of the opinion that the bridge would not solve any of the problems that the people are facing now.
“Regarding the Gurupriya bridge, I can say Maoists have been opposing it as people will neither find solution to their problems nor get any benefits,” said Secretary of the Malkangiri Divisional Committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) Venu in an exclusive interview with OTV,
Venu further stated, “In the name of development, the government is spending lakhs of rupees on establishing cell towers and constructing roads. This is being done only to facilitate setting up of police camps to accommodate police personnel. However, they (the government) are neither providing salary to teachers nor providing drinking water to the people. We are not opposing medical facilities or providing drinking water or land to landless people. In fact, we have been demanding the same.”
Notably, the State government has said the construction of the bridge on the river Gurupriya to connect the cut off areas of Balimela reservoir with the mainland of Malkangiri will be completed before September 2017. On its completion, there will be direct road communication to the 151 cut-off villages.
Earlier, the bridge work was entrusted to some private construction companies, who left the project work midway due to the threat from Maoists.
At present, the state Works department is looking after the construction work with adequate security provided by the BSF.