--Not
repaired properly; authorities churlish
BRAHMAPUR: For
the villagers of Podagada, Jhatipadar, N Barapalli and Raghunathpur under
Ramagarh gram panchayat in Ganjam block, a good motorable road is still a far
cry. Except a three-km-long slush road, the villages surrounded by mountains
have no other alternative roads to connect to the National Highway-5 at Palur
Junction, 37 km away from here.
Around
4,000 villagers depend on the road which was in precarious condition. The rural
road has become a headache for the people of these villages as it has hundreds
of potholes and substandard works of stone chips making the road a hell for
commuters. According to villager Rabi Narayan Pradhan of Jhatipadar, a portion
of the shoddy mud road had been constructed in 2002 after several years of
struggle. Surprisingly, the constructed portion had become rough after two
years, he added.
Again
a contractor got the road tender and had started repairing another portion of
the road. “We were happy about the construction of the road, but after a few
days of the work, the contractor left it halfway by only scattering black stone
chips on the road,” said a villager of Podagada. “Anyhow the road was
manageable to commute before construction, but after this it became rough to
very rough. The strong black stone chips scattered all over the road starting
from its beginning to the end created problems for vehicles and commuters,”
said Duryodhan Sahu of Podagada village.
Youths
from the villages said the hired auto-rickshaws or cars take more money to come
to their villages only for the deadly road. “If we hire vehicles like
auto-rickshaw or taxi at night, some of them don’t come fearing the road’s
condition,” said Basanta Pallai of Podagada.
“Some
children and elderly persons of the four villages got injured in accidents
which took place on this road,” said an old woman of N Barapalli village and
added that the ambulance take almost double time to cross the road while taking
a patient to a hospital. “It’s horrible to drive the vehicles on this road. We
always pray god while taking a heart patient to the hospital,” said an
auto-rickshaw driver Golak Kumar Sahu.
Pradhan
said the State Government with the help the World Bank had sanctioned a
multi-purpose cyclone shelter along with an all weather road to Podagada and
Jhatipadar a few years back. The cyclone shelter work has been completed, but
the road work is yet to be started, he added.
“We
have been demanding for the construction of the road, but nobody is paying heed
to our demands,” said Duryodhan, adding, “When we asked Executive Engineer
(RW-II Division, Brahmapur) about status of the road, he informed us that a
contractor had challenged the tender process in the court as a result of which
the work was not taking off.” When contacted, Engineer-in-Chief (Civil) got angry and pleaded not to disturb him for a silly matter.
The story was published in The Pioneer English daily on November 6, 2014
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