By SANTOSH MOHANTY
Officials of Angul district administration are allegedly drifting away from their responsibility by failing to resolve issues relating to drinking water, health, education and road connectivity.
The officials' lackadaisical attitude became evident during a high level meeting of Zilla Parishad meeting held at the district headquarters town in Angul recently. People's representatives leveled severe allegations that most officials were not present during the meeting, while important issues like supply of potable water to villagers living in different areas in Angul district were being discussed.
The 53rd general body meeting of Zilla Parishad, presided over by ZP President Ms Babita Pradhan, was attended among others, by Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo and MLAs of Talcher, Athamallik, Pallahara and Angul, Braja Kishore Pradhan, Ramesh Chandra Sai, Mukesh Kumar Pal and Rajanikant Singh respectively.
The people's representatives waited for several hours in the ZP Conference Hall to discuss with the officials on the issues concerning the common man in the rural regions of the district, yet none bothered to turn up despite being informed officially several days prior to the said meeting. The MLAs present at the meeting expressed their discontentment over non-attendance of officials to discuss the issues facing the people living in the rural areas in Angul district.
The angry MLAs were seen shouting urging the government to take action against the erring officials who did not care to attend such an important meeting which was convened to discuss the nagging issues confronting the rural masses in Angul district. Proceedings must be drawn against the officials who had deliberately skipped the meeting, the MLAs said and added that such a practice must come to an end forthwith and the concerned bureaucrats must be given exemplary punishment.
The groundwater table of Angul district especially in Talcher region has gone down to rock bottom level due to excavation of coal and rapid industrialization. People living in as many as 150 villages in Talcher sub-division are reeling under severe water scarcity. Womenfolks are a distressed lot as they have to traverse miles to fetch potable water for their families.
The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) who is the main culprit and mostly responsible for escalating water scarcity in Talcher region, has been running away from its responsibility to provide sufficient potable water to the affected denizens.
Till date, the MCL has restricted itself to supplying potable water to some locations through tankers, while large chunk of the affected population are dying for a few drops of water. Their condition become worst during summer as most of them get admitted to hospital due to dehydration.
