BARIPADA: Frustrated over the lack of an all-weather road, residents of Karanjia village under Shamakhunta block, including women, blocked the Udala-Baripada state highway-19 at Karanjia Chowk on Tuesday. They also made the block development officer (BDO) walk on the road, causing a disruption of vehicular traffic for several hours.
The villagers used bamboo barricades to block the highway, protesting the district administration’s failure to allocate funds for constructing a fair-weather road to their village, despite repeated requests.
They alleged that due to deplorable condition of road, even emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire brigade vans are unable to reach the village.
Villagers like Susanti Behera, Srabani Behera, and Mina Mohanta expressed their frustration, citing that in emergencies, they are forced to carry patients, including expectant mothers, on cots for over 1.5 km to reach the nearest road.
During the rainy season, schoolchildren miss classes, and daily labourers and cyclists face extreme difficulties due to the muddy road conditions. The villagers’ long-standing grievances intensified when the local sarpanch failed to visit the village, and the ward member, responsible for the village’s development, took no action to improve connectivity.
On learning of the situation, BDO Muna Sethy reached the protest site, accompanied by Baripada Sadar police, to address the villagers’ concerns. However, the angry villagers forced the BDO to walk several metres to witness the poor road condition.
The protest was called off after the BDO assured the villagers that the road would be initially repaired with morrum, and a permanent all-weather road constructed after the rainy season.