VISAKHAPATNAM: Ananthagiri Mandal Parishad Development Officer (MPDO) Harshita Raj on Thursday sanctioned a sum of Rs 10 lakh to lay a road, covering four kms, from Gummanti to Rachilakam in Alluri Sitarama Raju district.The development comes after TNIE had published a story, ‘Vexed with govt apathy, tribals lay roads in ASR’, on November 7, shedding light on the woes of the people of Pinakota, Jeenabadu, and Peddakota due to the lack of a motorable road.
As many as 180 tribals participated in shramdaan to lay a 10-km long road between Gummanti and Palabandhi via Rachakalam and Reddipadu.District Collector Sumit Kumar and Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Project Officer R Gopalakrishna deployed a team of NREGA officials to inspect the works carried out by the tribals.
The team, comprising the MPDO, tribal welfare JE Pawan Kumar and NREGS technical assistant S Sobhan Babu, accompanied by Pinakota Sarpanch Ganesh and Girijana Sangham 5th Schedule Sadhana Committee Honorary President K Govinda Rao reached the hilltop village after trekking for four kilometres.
The MPDO expressed surprise over the amount of work completed by the tribals and announced a sanction of Rs 10 lakh for creating 3,700 mandays to lay the four-km. The tribesmen welcomed the announcement.
At the meeting, Govinda Rao also urged the MPDO to initiate steps for completion of works between Dayarti and Ballagaruvu, for which Rs 20 lakh was sanctioned eight months ago.Responding, the MPDO promised to write a letter to the ITDA PO to start the Dayarti-Ballagaruju road works.