While the government is spending crores of rupees in the name of development, the real picture of the corruption is clearly visible. Despite spending more than Rs 5 crore on the construction of a 5-km road from K. Nuagaon in Chikiti block of Ganjam district to Kolihala in Patrapur block to Gadgobindpur in Digpahandi block, there has been intense dissatisfaction in the local area over the poor quality of work and deliberate irregularities to grab government funds due to the compromise between the contractor and the departmental officials. The road from Gadgobindpur Badabhand to Mohanty Sandhigaon has been dug up and abandoned for a long time.
There have been complaints that many accidents have occurred due to piles of sand, stones and gravel lying in the middle of the road. Despite repeated complaints, the department has only discharged its responsibility by throwing a little sand and soil that is like dust in the eyes. The most important question is, where is the information board in such a big project? Why is the total cost of the project, the name of the contractor, the duration of the work and other official details being hidden from the common people? Despite questions being raised by the media, the department has not given a clear answer, which has further deepened the suspicion. According to the allegations, less gauge rods, more sand, less cement and low-quality materials are being used in the construction of the wall. Although the wall was supposed to be built on both sides, work is being done on only one side and there have also been serious complaints about the attempt to increase the bill by connecting the existing culvert with new work. Similarly, the risk of accidents is increasing every day as the road from K.
Nuagaon has been dug up for more than two months. The temporary diversion road constructed near B.S.L.N.Pur is very thin and weak and is likely to collapse at any time during the rainy season. Thousands of people from about 20 villages depend on this road, while school buses, college buses, trucks, tractors and hundreds of vehicles ply daily. In such a situation, the common people are wondering who will take responsibility if any major incident occurs.
On the other hand, media representatives have repeatedly contacted the divisional engineer Sahadeva Madhei over the phone to get his opinion on the complaint, but he has not answered the phone. According to the locals, even when asked face to face, he makes reckless comments. The villagers demand that an immediate high-level and impartial investigation be conducted into the entire project to check the quality of the work and strict legal action be taken against the guilty. Otherwise, they have strongly warned that if any incident occurs in the future due to substandard work, the concerned department and the officers in charge will be directly responsible for it.
