Malkangiri villagers get first-ever tube-well

When the nation is going to celebrate its 73rd independence day on August 15 this year, the residents of Janbai village in Malkangiri district would be celebrating their first access to fresh drinking water through a tube-well.

The village, with a population of 380 households, now has access to fresh drinking water for the first time ever. It emerged as an island with the creation of a vast reservoir when Balimela dam project, a joint venture of Odisha-Andhra Pradesh, came up.

Until now, the villagers were dependent on rainwater through the reservoir.

The first tube-well has come up in front of the Primary Health Centre at Janbai village under Badpada panchayat.

The Gurupriya Bridge has not only connected them to the mainland after remaining cut-off for more than six decades but has also ushered in development. After joining the mainstream, Janbai, which is now part of ‘Swabhiman Anchala’, the opening of the bridge helped the administration in moving a rig machine to the village on Tuesday and the process of digging 24 tube-wells in nine villages began in the first phase.

Collector Malkangiri Manish Agarwal said a detail blueprint has been prepared to ensure development of ‘Swabhiman Anchala’, barely a week after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the much-awaited Gurupriya Bridge while declaring a special package of Rs100 crore for Malkangiri to take up infrastructure development and other project works.

The survey for a Panasput-Jodamba road project is over and construction work will start soon to provide road connectivity between the two places. The survey for the road between Mukiput and Jamuguda will also start soon.

Agarwal said the special package of Rs 100 crore would be utilised to change the face of the cutoff region by ensuring development of the region in all key sectors like health, communication, electrification and drinking water facilities across all the seven panchayats in ‘Swabhiman Anchal’.

“We are on the job to provide better sources of livelihood to the people there and enhance their well-being. It will encompass people’s capabilities, assets, income and activities required to secure the necessities of life,” he added.