Boudh: Ace Mandarin Subrat Panda is always having a heart for poor people. So naturally to interact with the people residing in remote and inaccessible area, Boudh Collector & District Magistrate along with his entire team walked down about four Kilometers inside forest and hilly areas to reach Saberi village under Harabhanga Block, one of the remotest area of Boudh district.
The entire District Administration led by Shri Panda visited the remote village as part of Gaon Ku Chala (Lets go to the village) campaign launched by the District administration. The villagers were overjoyed to see the district magistrate nearby. The villagers gave a grand welcome to the administrative team.
On Sunday, at exactly 8:05 am in the morning, the Team Boudh started climbing the hills from the Kuchudda on the Madhapur-Phulbani road. After covering a 3-kilometer ghat, everyone reached Bale. The road to Saberi from there was even more difficult. After walking for one and a half kilometers on a steep road, the Collector and his Administrative Team reached the village.
Reaching there at exactly 10 AM, Shri Panda spent more than two hours and learnt about the problems faced by the people residing there.
When the District Magistrate and other officials reached the village Saberi, which is located on a 800-foot-high forest hill, villagers were overjoyed as they saw their District Collector for the first time in their village.
Perhaps for the first time, a District Collector crossed the steep and mountainous roads and reached the remote area on foot. In addition, he spoke to the tribal population and got to know about their problems. He also promised to solve various issues of theirs immediately.
Due to absence of good road and basic amenities, people of about 6 to 7 villages are facing the problem. Even the Government schemes have limited impact in the remote villages.
As they are deprived of basic amenities, the District Collector talked to them at length and briefed about the new Government Programs for their benefits.
And how the State Government is trying hard to improve the condition of the tribal and unprivileged population in the state, pointed out Shri Panda.
Providing them basic amenities like drinking water, electricity, and anganwadi, road connectivity seems the priority of the District Administration. District Collector Shri Panda himself realized the poor condition of the people living there.
The Collector has immediately ordered for construction of three tubewells soon. He also announced a sanction of Rs 13.70 lakh from MGNREGA for construction of a road to the village. He appealed to the villagers to cooperate with the Block Administration in building the road.
In addition, the Collector has advised the women residing in the remote village to form Self Help Group (SHG) to avail government benefits.
He called upon the youth and women who were staying at home and those who passed out from VII-X standard to become self-employed with training in stitching and mobile repairing.
The Agriculture Officer advised the villagers to grow mustard and bees for livelihood. The forest department officers sought the cooperation of the people of the village to save the forest from fire.
A free health camp was organised and free treatment and medicines were distributed to everyone from children to the elderly/old people. Dry food & rations and blankets were distributed to everyone and to the elderly.
“We never believed that the Collector would reach us. We believe that after hearing the District Magistrate’s words, all our sorrows will go away. He will build roads to our village. He will solve the water problem. He will include us in various schemes,” said a villager of Kandara.
The villagers are very happy to hear from the District Magistrate that they will become self-reliant, said Pramod Mallik.
From there, they reached Baleju. He understood the problems of the people of five villages like Baleju, Adapaju, Lengarpaju, Mandali, Ra-Sahi, Chhatrapada and distributed blankets to the people. He gave immediate allowance to an unmarried tribal woman Bedi Mallik (45).
Shri Panda’s initiative has been welcomed from various quarters and it is expected that the other District Collectors will follow his initiative, pointed out a former Chief Secretary.