Not their promises made during the 2014 elections but devastation and deaths caused by the Titli cyclone in 2018 made politicians remember the Gangabada panchayat of Odisha’s Gajapati district under Mohana Assembly segment of Berhampur Lok Sabha seat.
Landslides caused by heavy rain claimed 16 lives in Baraghara, and one each in Budapachuria and Bengasahi villages on October 11, 2018.
Houses and agricultural fields were razed to the ground. Prominent political leaders, including BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan of the BJP, had rushed to this region with promises. But almost six months later, the villagers are still struggling to pick up the pieces.
Around 1,200 voters of this remote tribal-dominated panchayat had boycotted the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls alleging that all political parties had failed take notice of their long-standing problems such as connectivity, better healthcare and education facilities. But this time, following the persuasion of the local administration and some political leaders, they have decided to exercise their franchise.
Former sarpanch of Gangabada, Haribandhu Karji said: “We have decided to ask all political leaders visiting here to give a written promise to solve our long-standing problems.”
He alleged that since 2014 elections till the Titli cyclone hit the villages, no political leader had visited them to discuss their problems.
“Except for enhancement of communication to some extent, none of our other demands have been fulfilled till now. Even now one has to go to the hilltop or roofs of their houses to get mobile connectivity in this region,” he added.
After the cyclone devastation, Mr. Patnaik had initiated relocation of 76 tribal families from Baraghara to downhill Dengasahi mouza. Even after having ‘patta’ (ownership document) of the land, where they are to be rehabilitated, the families have not been able to take possession and start house construction. “Inhabitants of adjoining Andhra Pradesh, who were using the land for shifting cultivation, are not allowing us to construct houses there. Ten days ago, we had to face violent opposition from them,” said Laxmi Behera, a resident of Upper Sahi or higher region of Baraghara.
With delay in rehabilitation, the residents of Baraghara have started reconstructing their old houses using ₹1,05,000 compensation they had received for each destroyed house.
