Poverty in Dasamantpur

: Life in Dasamantpur block and especially in Lulla panchayat has been filled with hardship for the inaccessibility to the basic amenities and the facilities of the government. People have been dying of diarrhea in the last two months . Death of Raju Saunta , Milai Muduli and Budu Muduli with diarrhea in Kudalabal village under the panchayat in the last seven days has added more concern for the district administration . A team of doctors had rushed to the spot and have blamed the poor hygienic condition and consumption of mango kernel by the villagers for the death . but even after administering drugs the problem would not be solved without carrying out an integrated approach , Dhanapati Nayak , Sarapanch of the Panchayat said .There is no work to do in the panchayat , food has been scarce and medical aid remained to be a dream for the region .

There is no work available for the most of the villages in the panchayat even under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act( NREGA) .Only a few villages like Panjaraput , Ghantraguda and Mitikarli are the fortunate ones to have some work out of the 22 villages in the panchayat under the scheme, he said. The possibility of going out for working was also difficult for the people as the panchayat has been almost cut off from the main land of Koraput . Public transport was not available even up to the panchayat headquarter , leave alone the villages . Moreover the only other connection to the block head quarter had also been washed off in the last floods .People need to walk at least 10 Kilometers to catch any public transport , he added .

Forced by the inadequate measures to provide them with work , the poor tribal inhabitants depend largely on working in someone else’s field near their villages. They receive either two glasses of ragi or Rs.15/- for a work of 10 hours in a day which was far from sufficiency for anyone’s need , Suamani Muduli , a widow from Ambiliamba village who had lost his family members of diarrhea recently , said . However this opportunity to work has also been sized for the heavy rains for the last two months . People have barely anything to eat and this had forced them to add mango kernel , wild mushrooms and ghurudi leaves in their diet , she added.
The inaccessibility to the basic amenities like food , clean water and health services has led people to die every alternate day in the region ,Dhanapati , the sarpanch said . When contacted Balakrushna Sahu, the district collector of Koraput said that efforts were on to spread the scope of work under NREGA in the panchayat . Patches of land near the villages will be selected shortly to undertake Cashew plantation in large scale . This could provide more work for people and generate a sustainable income for the communities, he hoped.