BHAWANIPATNA:At least five villages under Kamthana Gram Panchayat of Kalahandi district remain cut off from the mainstream during monsoon for four months every year due to flood in Pipalnala.
In the absence of a bridge on the nullah, hundreds of villagers of Borbhata, Kacharpadar, Rujnaguda, Kaugupna and Luhurakuni are deprived of essential commodities. Even children are forced to stay away from schools during this period due to lack of connectivity. However, sometimes local youths help the school and college students and patients to cross the nullah to reach Kamthana GP headquarters and Bhawanipatna-Raipur Highway.
Although the people have been demanding a bridge on Pipalnala since long, the State Government or the local administration has not taken any step in this regard. A villager of Borbhata, 7 km from Bhawanipatna, alleged that though the village is located near the town, its perennial problem is yet to come to the notice of the local administration.
Khagapati Rana, a youth of Borbhata village, said the villagers have been demanding construction of a bridge over the ‘nullah’ near Duimuhan, but to no avail. In the absence of bridge, people are deprived of minimum health services and education while welfare benefits are a distant dream for them, he added.
Accidents have also been reported while people cross Pipalnala in the rainy season. Although called a ‘nullah,’ it is a small river which merges with the Tel river in the downstream.