JAGATSINGHPUR: Meagre allocation of funds to Palasola by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during Ama Gaon Ama Bikash programme left villagers of the panchayat disappointed on Wednesday.
The villagers were also let down after the CM did not interact with them through video conferencing as promised.
Former sarpanch of Palasola Bijaya Das said during the programme, the CM allocated only Rs 25 lakh for various development projects against the demand of Rs 1.40 crore.
Das said villagers had demanded Rs 50 lakh for renovation of Chandan Pokhari at Baldev Jew temple. However, only Rs 5 lakh was allocated to carry out renovation work. The pond cannot be given a facelift with such a meagre amount, he said.“We had also demanded to reopen the health centre at Palasudha village by posting doctors. But the demand was ignored,” Das said.
While a pipe water project is under construction, pipelines have not been laid and work on the overhead tank is yet to start. “If our grievances are not being taken seriously, there is no point in organising Ama Gaon Ama Bikash programme by spending lakhs of rupees,” the former sarpanch said.Residents of Dingeswer said they had demanded for a new building and additional classrooms for the Upper Primary school in the village besides a drinking water project. It is matter of regret that all the demands were ignored, they rued.
Other projects which were not sanctioned include construction of a building of Atal Baldev Jew High school and concrete roads in several villages, sources said.Palasola Sarpanch Dharitri Behera said, “As the CM did not interact with the elected representatives or villagers, we were not able to place our demands.” Apart from the Chandan Pokhari project, the CM allocated Rs 5 lakh towards development of the playground of Atal Baldev Jew High school, Rs 5 lakh for a concrete road in Gopal village and Rs 10 lakh for gram panchayat level SHG federation building, she informed.
Jagatsinghpur BDO Laganjit Rout said the district administration had sent the list of projects which were estimated at Rs 1.40 crore. However, only four projects at a cost of Rs 25 lakh were approved by the CM.
Among others, Collector Yamini Sarangi, project director of DRDA Biswajit Das, other district officials, Sarpanchs, panchayat samiti and ward members as well as villagers were present.
Notably, Rajya Sabha Member Ranjib Biswal had adopted Palasola under the Centre’s Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in 2014-2015 to develop the panchayat’s physical and institutional infrastructure. However, though four years have passed, there are no signs of any development work in Palasola.