Villagers allege neglect by district officials

Nellore: A few unsolved problems will greet former Indian Cricket caption Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar when he visits his adopted village Puttamarajuvari Kandrika on Wednesday.

The cricket legend and Rajya Sabha member is visiting the village exactly two years he adopted the village under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Though many of his promises have been met, some problems remained unsolved, highlighting the mismatch between ideals and bureaucratic realities.

Sachin promised to improve internal roads, electricity, community halls, drinking water, and school and other facilities in the village besides providing Wi-Fi facility to the residents of the tiny remote village.

Within 10 months, a majority works were completed including concrete roads, storm water drainage system, underground sewage with a treatment plant, 24-hour water supply, uninterrupted power and a playground, which transformed the village into an urban habitation where basic amenities though Wi-Fi facility is yet to be provided.

One of the two major grievances of the villagers is failure of authorities to provide a bridge that was washed away during floods in 2015, on the northern side of the village.

The bridge is the only way for farmers who cultivate about 50 acres located there. The villagers have been asking the administration for another structure to reach their lands.

We faced severe difficulty with storm water in the last November and have been requesting the district administration to construct a bridge to our agricultural lands. Recently, the officials said the District Collector had sanctioned some funds for the road,” said Bujja Nageswara Rao, sarpanch of the village.

Another grievance of the village is lack of houses to 20-25 ST families whose thatched houses were razed by the officials November last year promising to build new houses under housing scheme. However, citing change of norms under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), officials delayed the construction of houses, forcing these families to take shelter under makeshift huts roadside.

Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation issued modified guidelines under PMAY and these houses for ST population would be constructed under ‘Beneficiary-led Construction (BLC)’ component of housing mission, which is going nowhere for the last one year and creating apprehensions among the two dozen families. “Sachin had visited the village on November 16, 2014 and is coming again on Wednesday.

These officials make a buzz during his visit and forget us once the glare fades. No official has visited the village for the last one year. Agriculture, means of livelihood and shelter are essential for the people rather other amenities,” said sarpanch Nageswara Rao. Tribal families rendered homeless echoed same sentiment.

Joint Collector A Md Imtiyaz, while interacting with media persons on Tuesday, said the District Collector had sanctioned Rs 30 lakh for the box-type bridge to reach the agriculture lands and would be taken up shortly.

He also said they would construct houses for the ST families under BLC component of housing scheme. Sachin allocated Rs 2.79 crore and Rs 90 lakh from his MPLADS funds for the village in two instalments and district administration allocated another Rs 3.20 crore and Rs 90 lakh under MGNREGS.

Sachin will inaugurate a community hall and interact with State and district officials on Swachh Bharat as part of efforts to motivate them. He will address the local people at the playground.