CUTTACK: An eerie silence engulfs Panchagochhia of Narasingpur block as almost all the residents have fled the village by locking their houses. While the roads and lanes wear a deserted look, not a single soul can be seen in the area barring a few elderly persons and women who have nowhere to go after the violent clash with neighbouring Sagar village over water sharing that left one dead and 10 injured on August 4. One such elderly man is 92-year-old bed-ridden Padmanabh Pradhan.
With no one in the house to take care of him, he is at the risk of developing bedsores. Padmanabh’s 68-year-old son Prafulla is affected by paralysis while daughter-in-law Tiki is suffering from acute arthritics problem. His three grandsons and granddaughter-in-laws, who usually look after him, are not able to come to the house in fear of police action.
Similar is the situation of 80-year-old Kamala Sahoo who was starving for the last seven days till a mediaperson, who visited the village on Saturday, provided her some dry food. Her two sons and daughter-in-laws have left home along with their children in fear of police.
Following the clash, communication to Panchagochhia village has also been snapped. Around 150 families residing in two wards of Panchagochhia depend on a single road that passes through Sagar village. Sources said with relationship with residents of Sagar village, which houses 1,000 families spread across four wards, souring after the clash, people of Panchagochhia are afraid to use the road fearing attacks.
The men were first to leave Panchagochhia fearing arrest and the women and children followed later. Unable to attend classes in Government High School situated at Sagar, nearly 20 children of Panchagochhia have left their village along with their parents.
Both the Anganwadi centre and Government Upper Primary School in Panchagochhia have been closed since last Monday to accommodate the police force deployed in the village.Though a week has passed since the clash, palpable tension continues to prevail in the area with a platoon of armed police force still deployed in Panchagochhia.
Considering the plight of the villagers, residents of adjacent Bahali, Khajuria, Bandhahuda, Alara, Nukhapada and Adheigundi villages have urged the district administration to form a peace committee to bring back normalcy and settle the water sharing dispute which has been lingering for over one and a half years.
The clash broke out between the two villages over dispute in sharing water from Chamundapalli irrigation project. While a 44-year-old man of Sagar village was killed, more than 10 persons from both the village sustained grievous injuries in the clash.