Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Mar 4: Tallur is located just five km away from the taluk headquarters. Tallur and Uppinakudru villages fall within the limits of Tallur gram panchayat, but a visitor to Uppinakudru is sure to get a doubt his mind as to whether this gram panchayat is giving step-motherly treatment to this backward hamlet. A visit to the village revealed that every family is fed up with the problems plaguing Uppinakudru, as womenfolk came forward to narrate their woes.

Road, streetlight, drainage, drinking water, lack of Anganwadi, destruction of crops by inflow of sea water, salty water making agricultural land go waste as there are no protective walls, vented dam which has not served any purpose other than facilitating saline water to gush into the fields besides becoming breeding ground for various diseases, problem of the health centre and community hall, and library are some among the long list of problems faced by villagers here.

The main grouse of the residents here stems from the fact that none of the people's representatives including panchayat members are doing anything to mitigate their hardships.

The road leading to Bobbaryana Mane has become so wretched that walking by this road also happens to be strenuous. The village has about 150 houses, and around 60 children go out of the village to get education. Under Suvarna Grama Yojana, this road had been asphalted two years at a cost of Rs 18 lac, but the layer of bitumen had chipped within two months. A local 75-year-old lady named Parameshwari had filled the potholes of the road with mud by spending around Rs 3,000. Other than this, nothing else was done.

The village is sans any fresh water source. After repeated demands and requests, the gram panchayat had built a water storage tank with a capacity of one lac litres in 2012-13 at a cost of 25 lac rupees. However, this has not satiated the thirst of the villagers. The locals complain that water flows in the taps only when there is some programme, and money is paid at the gram panchayat office for this purpose.

The vented dam built at a cost of one crore rupees has gone waste, the villagers rue. Salty water gets collected on both sides of this dam, and because of saline water flowing from this dam, agricultural fields get flooded and turn useless for cultivation.

Uppinakudru is an isle that is surrounded by salty rivulets and backwaters of Arabian sea. Although the government has specified that every village needs to have a graveyard, Uppinakudru has none. When someone dies, the body needs to be taken to Kundapur or Babbukudru by boat for funeral. The grant received for graveyard, it is said, went back to the government.

Absence of health centre, community hall, and library have been badly felt. The grant for community hall also sent back as the plan did not materialize. The isle is in need of a ring road, but no one has made any honest effort to realize this long-cherished dream.

Living a normal life has become a distant mirage for the villagers, who get salt water if they dig wells, are devoid of support from panchayat in addressing drinking water supply, road, and other problems, and for whom getting everything including basic needs has become an ordeal.