Hemgir villagers to renew stir over damaged Bankibahal-Taparia road

ROURKELA: Accusing the district administration of going back on its promise of repairing the vital Bankibahal-Taparia road, people of various villages under Hemgir block have decided to renew their stir again.The agitation of villagers earlier in July had severely disrupted operations of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for three days.

Backed by Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete, efforts are underway to mobilise support in affected villages under Taparia, Garjanjor, Jharpalam, Munderkhet, Tumulia, Sumra, Kendudihi, Gopalpur and Kuchedega panchayats. Ramlal Patel, a village leader, said they will resort to agitation once again as the Sundargarh district administration has failed to keep its promise of starting road construction work by October 25. 

They have decided to stage a day-long road blockade at Taparia within a week. Subsequently, the agitation would be intensified with economic blockade at multiple places, Patel said.He alleged that MCL and its buyer Jindal Steel have taken complete control of the road by plying coal-laden heavy vehicles. The villagers are forced to use alternate roads by covering long distances. No repair or maintenance is being carried out and when the road gets damaged beyond use, hard industrial slag is dumped to help passage of heavy vehicles. 

In first week of October, Works Minister Prafulla Mallick, while replying to a question from Sundargarh MLA, had stated that the crust provision was being upgraded considering the existing traffic load and fresh tender would be floated after preparation of new estimates taking necessary administrative and technical approvals. The Minister had said an estimate of `131.36 crore was being prepared and the MCL would fund the road project. 

Tete said after the Minister’s reply, he had met the Public Works Secretary who told her that the tender process was in progress. However, nothing visible has been done yet. Tete also said, she would stage dharna in front of Odisha Legislative Assembly on the demand.