A bridge over Hati river in Kalahandi is a must

merinews.com, May 26, 2009
CJ: Bikram Panda

Thousands of E-Group clubs have been set up to unite the people of Kalahandi across geographical boundaries for a social cause. These clubs want to draw the attention of the government to the problems that plague the hapless district of Kalahandi..

KALAHANDI, THE western district of Orissa has been in the news since the 80s for all the wrong reasons like selling of children, low cost labour, bad roads, poor governance, poor medical facilities, famine and poverty. But there is a silver lining to the dark clouds in the form of some development initiatives that have been taken in the recent past.

The Upper Indravati Project, The National Highway 207, The Vedanta Alumina Limited, a large workforce of IT Professionals are signs that Kalahandi has begun its long delayed march to progress. Nowadays if you surf the Internet, then you will come across different websites, blogs, news sites and tourist sites specially dedicated to Kalahandi by Kalahandians. Thousands of E-Group clubs have been set up to unite the people of Kalahandi across geographical boundaries for a social cause. These clubs want to draw the attention of the government to the problems that plague Kalahandi.

The most recent problem of the people of Kalahandi is the bridge over Hati river near Junagarh. The facts and figures of this are as follows:

People residing in the nearby villages of Junagarh (Balichada, Karmeli, Mandal to name a few) face severe floods during the rainy season due to the Hati river (during July-September), which causes a huge loss to property. No proper action has been taken so far by the Kalahandi district administration for the construction of roads and other measures for the welfare of people residing in this area. The Upper Indravati Hydel Project Law Book says that the 3 per cent of the income of the Hydel Project should be invested in Kalahandi's development. The villagers are shifting to different places due to the floods and there's no improvement on the Hati riverside wall construction.

If we want to go to Kalampur from Moter then there are two links. One is via Junagarh (60 km) and another one via Mukhiguda (50 km). There’s another short route to visit Kalampur from Moter i.e through Karchala which is around 15 km but Hati river is between Kalampur and Moter. (near Mandal village).

In late 1999 when Hemannda Biswal was the Chief Minister of Orissa, he promised the Construction of a Bridge Over Hati near Karchala (2 km distance). In 2003, the Navin Patnaik government (BJD) visited the area and made many promises but no action has been taken till date. In 2003 the estimate of the bridge was Rs 4 crore and it was later revised to Rs 9 crore. But no one really knows where the money went. Our so-called MLAs and MPs should show some commitment to the development of this region and not just work for their own prosperity!

The Members of Kalahandia E-Group club have identified the following reasons for the delay in executing projects for Kalahandi’s development:

Lack of Communication between people and the administration
No influential legislators
No influential Member of Parliament
Lack of proper administration
Lack of funding by Central Government as well as State Government

Hope to see an improvement in the region after the election of MLA Puspinder Sigh Deo (BJD) and MP Bhakta Charan Das (Cong).