Will improve road connectivity and put an end to ‘doli deaths’, Home Minister V. Anitha assures ZPTCs

Several tribal women have lost their lives while being transported to the nearest hospital in makeshift palanquins due to lack of roads; ZPTCs had raised concerns over the increasing number of doli deaths in the 11 mandals of ITDA Paderu limits

Home Minister V. Anitha said that the NDA government would take steps to put an end to the ‘doli deaths’ in the Agency by increasing road connectivity to the interior villages of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. She also assured to improve medical facilities in the Agency areas and to come up with measures to resolve drinking water issues by completing ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ works before the summer in undivided Visakhapatnam district.

She was speaking to ZPTC members during the ZP General Body meeting headed by chairperson J. Subhadra, here on Thursday. A wide range of issues from various departments like irrigation, agriculture, medical & health, Roads & Building, Rural Water Supply (RWS), education have come for discussion.

A number of ZPTCs raised concern over increasing doli deaths in the 11 mandals under ITDA Paderu limits. Explaining the sufferings of pregnant woman and patients, the ZPTCs alleged that the government has failed to address the issues and also allocate funds to improve connectivity to the tribal hamlets.

ASR District Collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar said that there are 1,350 habitations in the district (11 mandals of Paderu ITDA limits), which do not have road connectivity. He also said that it would take around ₹1,800 crore to improve road connectivity in the region and the proposals were already forwarded to the government.

Ms. Anitha informed the members that she had recently attended a meeting organised by Union Home Ministry, where she spoke about the road connectivity in the Agency areas, for which Home Minister Amit Shah has also responded positively.

“With the help of state, centre, Tribal Corporation and from Home Ministry, we would try to gather funds to improve road connectivity to the villages on war-foot basis,” she said.

Speaking about the ganja menace, some of the ZPTCs have sought the Home Minister to provide alternate crops for the tribals who have stopped cultivating the ganja and also appealed to organise awareness programmes over their cultivation.

In the view of recent incidents at Gurla in Vizianagaram, Ms Anitha directed the Rural Water Supply (RWS) authorities to ensure chlorination, water tanks cleaning is done regularly without fail. She also said that in some areas, drains which were arranged nearby the water pipelines are mixing up.

The Home Minister also said that about Rs 4.68 crore was sanctioned for Anakapalli district for repairing the potholes, while around Rs 20 crore was sanctioned for Vizag and ASR districts. She asked the authorities to speed up tender procedures and initiate pothole repairing works. She also spoke about lack of jungle clearance works especially in Anakapalli district in the last few years, which are leading to road accidents.

Quality of food

In the view of recent food poisoning incidents in several tribal welfare schools in the Agency, Araku MP Tanuja Rani asked the authorities to improve quality of food being supplied to the students and provide better amenities. She also said that many school buildings are in dire need of facelift.

Heated discussions were held, as several ZPTC members alleged failure of government in helping locals of Chatrapalli in GK Veedhi, where a landslip occurred due to rains during September.

ASR collector Dinesh Kumar informed them that they had failed to reach village immediately due to cut-off of roads. However the residents were provided all essentials at the earliest, apart from paying compensation.

“We are trying to shift al the 37 families to a safe place and will construct a model colony for them,” he said.

VSP issue

During the meeting, some of the ZPTC members have urged Visakhapatnam MP M Sribharat to raise the VSP privatisation issue in the Parliament explaining how it is a sentiment to the people of the region. Responding positively, Mr Sribharat said that the NDA government is committed to protecting the steel plant.

Published - October 24, 2024 08:27 pm IST