BARIPADA: Basic amenities like road, electricity, education and healthcare remain a distant dream for residents of Dantiakacha village in Brahmanagaon gram panchayat of Bangiriposi block.
Home to around 200 tribal families, the village is yet to get electricity and a motorable road. The villagers, who have also not been allotted any house under government scheme, said they eke out a living by collecting sal leaves from the nearby forest. Cultivation of paddy is not possible in the village due to absence of irrigation facility.
The locals depend on Bangiriposi community health centre, located around 35 km from the village which also does not have an anganwadi centre. The children of the village remain illiterate as the nearest primary school at Churabandh remains unreachable due to absence of road.
A resident Ramchandra Hembram said the village remains in dark even after 76 years of Independence. The few locals who own and use mobile phones charge their devices at other villages. “The rising cost of kerosene makes villagers go to bed early. A handful of children enrolled in schools in nearby villages are unable to study at home due to this,” he said.
Dantiakacha is connected with Bangiriposi with a rough road. A bridge over Jhumuri stream on the route is yet to be constructed. Mayurbhanj collector Vineet Bhardwaj said he will ask the project director of District Rural Development Agency and officials of Integrated Tribal Development Agency, Baripada to visit the village on Monday to take stock of the situation. Necessary steps will be taken after the team submits its report to the district administration.