It is hardly 9 km from the National Highway, but no IAS officer had ever visited the hamlet of Banjarumale in Neriya Gram Panchayat limits of Belthangady taluk till Tuesday, when Dakshina Kannada ZP CEO Thulasi Maddineni participated in a health programme.
The 42 Malekudiya families at Banjarumale expressed delight and spoke to her for an hour, presenting their problems and demands. There is only a gram panchayat-laid mud road to this hamlet from the NH, which takes a jeep an hour to cover.
The locals have to travel 9 km by hiring a jeep for Rs 600 if there is any emergency. The locals travel only once a week to town to purchase household items.
Sudarshan, an agricultural labourer, says the Banjarumale area looks like no-man’s land due to government neglect. “We need a good road, an anganwadi, a primary health centre and communication service first,’’ he said.
The visit of Maddineni has come as a ray of hope for families here. Maddineni came into public limelight when she halted an alleged encroachment by Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi’s brother as deputy commissioner in Koppal.
In 2002, then Dakshina Kannada ZP chief secretary Gonal Bhimappa had visited the area for the inauguration of a hydel power project, but had not interacted with locals. No officer has set foot in the region since.
A local resident A B Annappa said: “We were hopeful of a visit by the Deputy Commissioner 20 years ago. We had even built a stage for the programme. But the DC did not visit the area.”
The place where the stage was constructed for the programme is now called DC Katte.
“Today, we are hopeful of better facilities after the officer’s visit,’’ he added.
