BARIPADA: There is no road to Dumasahi village. Home to 22 families, one has to walk on an undulating road to reach this small tribal-dominated village near Similipal forest that is yet to come under Government’s development radar.
With no road link, people of the village under Kaptipada block do not get ration under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). There is neither piped water supply nor electricity. As a result, women collect water from natural streams and pits for drinking and domestic use.
As ambulances do not reach the village in case of emergency, villagers have to carry their ailing family members on cots or slings to the nearest health centre. In most cases, they depend on quacks and traditional healers for treatment. To reach the village, one has to walk for a km from Kadamshol village.
Dumasahi neither has a primary school nor an anganwadi centre yet. None of the children of the 22 families go to school as their parents are unwilling to send them to other villages to study. “There is only a pre-school in Podadiha village, which is four km from here. But there is no primary or high school nearby,” said Govinda Singh, a villager.
Villagers mostly depend on minor forest produce from Similipal forest and Sal leaves to eke out a living. While men collect the Sal leaves, women make bowls and plates from those that are sold in Podadiha weekly market. “The money that we earn from selling Sal leaves and plates is not sufficient to meet both ends. MGNREGS has not reached our village,” said another villager Pagulu Singh.
The only silver lining is that four toilets have been constructed under Swachha Bharat Abhiyan. While villagers have been urging the officials to provide them ration cards under NFSA and housing aid under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, there has been no response. Kaptipada BDO Rabindra Mallick said villagers will be provided ration cards once the Model Code of Conduct is withdrawn.