Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Feb. 02: Mr. Sujan Das, Pradhan Gram Panchayat Laxmipur, Diglipur, along with villagers coming under the Panchayat mounted a massive dhana and chakka jam at School Tikrey, Laxmipur today.
As per report, the Pradan along with villagers and residents of the region held a massive dharna right on the road at School Tikrey and blocked the road since morning today to press for a plethora of their long pending demands.
The battery back-up at BSNL tower, Laxmipur fails immediately after electricity power failure at Laxmipur village and due to this technical snag, the BSNL network also fails, said the protestors. The BSNL network is very much required for daily official works, distribution of Ration under PDS, distribution of fertilizer through biometrics, etc. BSNL is the sole service provider in the region and its failure affects all the departments to function and also the general public as Laxmipur gets cut off from the other region in the field of communication and public services. Delay in construction of CC Paths & PMGSY Road works the Pradhan is not able to submit utilization certificates and as a result, developmental works are being thwarted, the Pradhan said. During the year 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 the Panchayat is not able to get any Grant in Aid fund in the Road sector, Mr. Sujan Das further said on mike.
The condition of the steel bridge at Laxmipur 8 (aat) family is in miserable condition, any untoward incident/accident may happen at any moment of time, but the administration pays no attention to it, he rued. The sole road for Laxmipur 8 family, used by near about 250 residents of the region is also in bad shape, but the work hasn’t been taken up by APWD till date. As such, the inhabitants of this area, who are Regd. Settlers of the 1957 settlement, are helplessly facing the wrath of the situation, they lamented. Similarly, there are other roads starting from State Highway to interior parts of the villages, which ought to be taken up by the APWD, the concerned dept. reportedly put it in the cold storage, the Pradhan alleged.
The demonstrators further alleged that the Department of Electricity collects electric bills without showing any meter reading in the bills which they send to the consumers through SMS on cell phones. As a result, consumers feel that they are reportedly cheated. Hence, the meter reading of the respective electric bill should also be furnished along with bill amount on the SMS mode, they urged. Near about 85% of households of Laxmipur Gram Panchayat need to register or get the benefits of Ayushman Bharat as they are indigent; but ironically, these residents do not belong to BPL category and have a APL Ration Card, as such, they can’t go to mainland for their treatment despite they being in poverty-stricken state, they rued.
The shortage of medical staff and equipment in CHC and PHCs in Diglipur is a matter of grave concern which has been plaguing the lives of common people of Diglipur for the last couple of years, they said. There are no Gyno and ENT doctors/specialists in CHC, Diglipur. The CHC, Diglipur should be well equipped with Ultrasonography, Dialysis system, MRI City-Scan etc. but unfortunately the Health Institute lacks these equipments which forces common people of Diglipur to go Port Blair for their basic and ordinary treatment and they have to travel near about 320 KM by bus/boat which is really pathetic, they lamented.
Mr. Sujan Das apprised the Administration of these demands/grievances a number of times, but the Administration showed myopic attitude towards these issues, he alleged.
During the protest, individuals having links with different political parties raised the issues and shouted slogans on hand-mikes against the administration. And it was interesting to notice that, though Mr. Sujan Das belongs to the BJP, the dharna was attended by persons having linkage with other political parties apart from the residents of the villages coming under Gram Panchayat Laxmipur. Notably, the entire dharna was conducted under the National Flag and no flag of political parties was erected at the dharna site.
The local heads of depts. Like BSNL, Revenue, APWD etc visited the dharna site and heard the grievances and long pending demands and works of the residents and the Panchayat. However, the irked protestors were seen hardly satisfied with the replies from the Officials and they demanded written assurances. The departmental heads then tried to convince the incensed public and gave them assurances that they would do their level best to fulfill their demands within the month of March this year.
Since the road was blocked, the traffic came to a stand still while the Diglipur Police deployed an adequate number of police personnel at the dharna site and the SHO, Diglipur and SDPO, Diglipur (In-Charge)himself were present there who closely monitored the situation. However, vehicles carrying medical patients were allowed to go, while common people coming from long distances at both sides had to suffer the delay due to this road blockage.
The dharna which started at about 08:30 am concluded at around 01.00 pm after the assurances from departmental heads in fulfilling the demands within the month of March 2024.
