MALKANGIRI: The people of ‘Swabhiman Anchala’ are revelling in their new-found identity and attention. A day after the Gurupriya bridge was thrown open by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, ending the decades-long isolation of the cut-off region, the villages are witnessing a flurry of activities.
On Thursday, Government officials from various departments including Health and Panchayati Raj reached the villages with the objective of assessing the needs and initiating the much-needed development and welfare works for the people.
The Rs 100-crore projects announced by the Chief Minister for development of the ‘Swabhiman Anchala’ would now put the whole area on the road to fast-track development, Malkangiri Collector Manish Agarwal said. Two road projects, one from Muchiput to Jamuguda and the other from Panasput to Jodamba, will be taken up under the package to connect Jodamba and Panasput.
To promote pisciculture, five crores of fish would be released into the Chitrakonda reservoir and about 2000 fishermen families would benefit. Health sub-centres would come up in six panchayats to provide better health services to the people. A 33/11 KV substation would be set up at Badapada to improve electricity arrangements there. Four pipe water supply projects are to come up at Badapada and Papermetla and 100 tube-wells would be installed in the area.
The special projects also include construction of a bridge at Manyamkonda to facilitate the biennial celebration of Badayatra festival by the tribals. High-level bridges would also be built at Potteru, Pangam, Kangrukonda, MV-90, Undrukonda and MV-37. “We will ensure that the works are taken up at the earliest and completed on a war-footing,” the Collector asserted.
While 30,000 population across 151 villages is expectedly upbeat, it is also hopeful of the restoration of social cohesion in the region after decades of Left Wing Extremists insurgency. “We want the Government’s welfare schemes to reach our doorstep and not the rule of the gun here. We had spent more than six decades hunkered down in fear. We want peace and prosperity in the region and participate in the decision-making process which the bridge would ensure,” said 30-year-old Uddhab Hantal.
“Moreover, the bridge would now help the security personnel carry out an operation against the rebels and take it to a logical end to establish rule of law in the region,” said another villager requesting anonymity.
Kamla Khilla, who was at the Jantapai BSF camp to receive medicines, said Gurupriya would be a life-changing bridge for the cut-off region people. History has been rewritten with its coming into being, which will now make the cut-off region a developed area like other places in the district and outside, she said.