Tribal people lay road in ASR district of Andhra Pradesh after their pleas go unheard

The tribal people of the hilltop hamlets of Buriga and China Konela have toiled hard for a week to lay a 1-km-long kutcha road with shramdaan in Rompalli panchayat of Ananthagiri mandal in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district. Around 100 men and women cleared the bushes and boulders with steadfast determination and completed the road work on June 23 (Sunday).

The tribal people of the hilltop hamlets of Buriga and China Konela have toiled hard for a week to lay a 1-km-long kutcha road with shramdaan in Rompalli panchayat of Ananthagiri mandal in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district. Around 100 men and women cleared the bushes and boulders with steadfast determination and completed the road work on June 23 (Sunday).

But their work is not over. They are determined to lay a road on a stretch of another 7 km within a month. The tribal residents living in Buriga and China Konela hamlets have been appealing to the authorities to lay a road from Buriga to Vanija of Mentada mandal in the hilly terrain in Vizianagaram district for long. With their pleas falling on deaf ears, the tribal people decided to lay the road on a stretch of 8 km on their own.

As many as 74 families live in Buriga hamlet while China Konela has a population of 170. Though the distance between Buriga and Vanija is 8 km, the tribal people, in the absence of a road, have to trek through the hilly terrain in health and other emergencies. Ambulance drivers drop the patients who undergo treatment at hospitals in Vizianagararm district at Vanija.

A tribal couple, who took turns to carry the body of their infant son on their shoulders, after an ambulance dropped them at Vanija brought the ordeals of the tribal people into focus. Though the authorities undertook the construction of a 23-km motorable road towards Sunkarametta side (Araku road) in ASR district in 2022, the work on a stretch of 8 km leading to Buriga and China Konela has been left incomplete.

The Bhimavaram PHC in Ananthagiri mandal is around 50 km from the hamlets. The tribal people have been demanding a road from Buriga, through the hills, to Vanija for easy access to healthcare facilities. They sought sanction of funds for the road under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). They also sought electricity connections to the villages. A 42-year-old man S. Adaiah of Rayapadu village of NR Puram panchayat in ASR district died of snakebite recently.

Buriga Pentayya, Somula Yerrayya, Somula Kothayya and Somula Appalaraju, 10th ward member of Rompilli panchayat were among those who participated in the shramdaan.