People lose patience, to boycott polls

MALKANGIRI: Political leaders and candidates visit our village during election and do not return to inquire about the progress of welfare works once the polling ends. This was alleged by nearly 60 families of Padampur in Sindhrimal under Malkangiri panchayat samiti limits on Tuesday. With panchayat polls just  a month away, the villagers have decided to refrain from voting protesting the State Government’s failure to include their village in the revenue map of the State,  thus depriving them of benefits.  Nearly 40 years ago the villagers were displaced from Chitrakonda and rehabilitated at Padampur to make way for the Chitrakonda-based Balimela dam project. Ironically, for these people who gave up their hearth unflinchingly for development, the project does not even bring them any benefit in terms of a share in the electricity generated.  In these four decades the Government has done little for the villagers other than including their names in the voter’s list.The villagers have been demanding inclusion of their village in the revenue map of the State and homestead patta besides other demands. The promise of extending all basic amenities has been pending for 40 years, the villagers alleged.While still struggling in the dark due to non-supply of power to their village, no road to the village has altered their lives altogether. “Though we have been requesting authorities to lay roads and extend other basic facilities, our persistent demands have fallen on deaf ears,” said a villager. During monsoon the people are confined to the village in the absence of even a rough road.