Pregnant woman's arduous doli journey highlights neglect in road construction

Jajula Bandha, a hilltop village with a population of 160, had been allocated Rs 1 crore from the MGNREGA funds by the Paderu ITDA Project Officer in 2023 to erect a road connecting it to Arla village via Pitrigadda. However, the construction was abruptly halted, leaving the village without a proper road.

Despite repeated complaints from the tribal community to the ITDA project officer, work did not resume.

This is not the first time such a situation has arisen. Last year, a pregnant woman from the PVTG community in Pitrigadda village had to endure a similar ordeal. The matter garnered media attention, prompting the chief minister’s office (CMO) to instruct the Anakapalle district collector to investigate the matter. Following this, the district collector sanctioned `4 crore 60 lakh for the road construction, which is slowly progressing.

The elders of Jajula Bandha and Pitrigadda villages, including Korra Kamesh and Konadamala Venkat Rao, demand that the ITDA officials inspect all the roads. They urge the tribal welfare officials to manage road construction with more speed and diligence so as to prevent such hardships in the future.

They emphasize that if the road from Jajula Bandha to Arla village via Pitrigadda had been completed earlier, the villagers would have been spared from making doli journeys in critical situations.