Protesters cook food in front of DM’s office

Protesters cook food in front of DM’s office
Hemanta Kumar Pradhan
Chatrapur: Believe or not! This is happened at Chatrapur, the district headquarter of Ganjam. The villagers of Asurabandha Panchayat under Sorada block of the district started cooking in front of the grievance cell of the District Magistrate (DM) while protesting against the inaction of district administration for the construction of their village road.
The villagers stated that the village road is illegally owned by some of the persons of their village. The village road construction started under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is stopped by the confusion on the land dispute.
The villagers of T.D. Gochha, Pana Ambagaon, Sandhabali, Raiguda, Rajapur and Maniakati villages under Sorada block of Ganjam district were come to meet the District Magistrate, but they could not get him with other officers. Though the OSD of NREGS was there to listen their demand, yet the villagers were not happy and demanded the presence of the District Magistrate in this matter.
When the officers were not come to discuss with the protesters, they arranged cooking in front of the District Magistrate’s grievance cell.
In 1983-84, Gangadhar Sahu, Gaurahari Sahu and Ananda Sahu of Dulada village were made the village road as royalty patta under the settlement by the Government of Odisha then. The owners of the land are not agreeing to leave the land as they have patta.
The villagers had given a letter to the chief minister to attract the attention on this matter. After getting the letter, Chief Minister directed to the Ganjam DM to look into the matter. According to the letter, DM directed to the Block Development Officer of Sorada block to enquiry on the dispute. After the investigation on this matter, BDO submitted the report no. 1070 to the DM on June 21 this year.
According to the villagers, the disputed road is the life line of 40 villages, which connects to the main road to the town, Tahasil office, Block, Police station, Bank, School, College and so on. So, they will not withdraw their agitation till their demand is fulfilled.