Officials to walk up to 32 km to hold palli sabha at Niyamgiri

With the dates for holding gram sabha meetings in Niyamgiri Hill slope villages approaching to decide the fate of the proposed bauxite mining for Vedanta, the assigned government officials are worried a lot about the lack of road communication and Maoist presence in the area.

The locations of the villages in the districts of Rayagada and Kalahandi are such that there is no alternative other than to walk a minimum 6 km and maximum 32 km in a day to conduct meetings, the officials said.

The Rayagada district administration has already issued notification for holding 'palli sabha' in hill slope villages of Serkapali, Kesarpadi, Batudi, Khambasi and Jarapa on July 18, 22, 27, August 13 and 19 respectively.

August 1 and 7 have been fixed for holding palli sabha at Lamba and Lakhapadar villages respectively.

The meetings for five other villages would be conducted by officials of Kalahandi district.

To reach at the first set of five villages, vehicular communication from Rayagada is available till Panimunda via Muniguda. The officers would have to cover 6 km to 32 km to and from through the hilly terrain by foot to approach the villages.

The journey to the other two villages in the district would involve a trek of 18 km and 30 km under similar circumstances as vehicular communication from Rayagada existed only till Parcelli, they said.