Villagers begin laying road to growth

BHAWANIPATNA: THE village has been electrified under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), reads a  corroded iron board outside Nunres village. However, inside the small village of 24 households,  only three electricity poles have been erected. Power supply is a misnomer.Also, there is no piped water supply in the village that comes under Tal Ampadar gram panchayat of Thuamul Rampur block and villagers collect water from a stream nearby. In fact, fruits of development are yet to reach the village and its residents attribute it to lack of road.But this will soon be a thing of the past. As requesting Government officials, the local MLA and MP  for construction of a road to the village yielded no response, the impoverished villagers have now taken on the task of laying the road themselves.

Currently to reach the village, one has to trek through a three km hilly road from   Bhawanipatna-Kashipur State Highway.While work started two days back, they plan to complete the three-km-long road before  monsoon. For the purpose, each family in the village contributed `3,000 and the villagers have  hired JCB machines for `1,200 an hour to clear the hilly path. Jagatsingh Majhi of the village said they had appealed to the panchayat officials and MLA, MP for construction of the road many times in the past.

“However, as no one paid heed, we had to take up the work ourselves because in the absence of an approach road to the village, none of the Government benefits reaches us, be it healthcare or water”, he said. The enthusiastic villagers have been divided into two groups and are  working in two phases on the road project. After its completion, they feel, development cannot elude Nunres village.