About 900 villagers of Dhingiamunda in Nuapada district have threatened to refrain from voting in the coming Lok Sabha and assembly polls if drinking water does not reach their village by March 21.
The villagers on Thursday met district collector Jaya Kumar V and put forth their grievances. “We have taken a unanimous decision not to cast our votes for both LS and assembly polls. For the last one decade, we have been demanding drinking water supply to the village but no one paid any heed,” said Bhabani Shankar Kata, a villager. He further said if their demands were not fulfilled, two villagers would end their lives in front of the collector’s office at Nuapada.
In a letter to the collector, the villagers said piped water could be supplied to Charpali, Gibhimunda and Hatibandha villages from Gidhmal river. “We also want the village pond to be renovated. The administration should also construct a check dam at Dabrinala, which will help in irrigation,” a villager said.
The collector said the government would take steps to fulfill the demands of the villagers at the earliest. “The villagers have submitted a memorandum wherein they have mentioned their demands. I will personally convince the villagers not to boycott the polls,” Kumar added.
With all the five blocks of the district being Maoist-hit, the district administration would anyway be on its toes to manage the polls.
