More remote habitations to get road connectivity

 Anakapalli: Coveringvarious divisions, Assembly constituencies, mandals, villages, 21 unconnected habitations have been identified for road connectivity project in Anakapalli district.

In order to improve connectivity and ease the life of tribals making their travel doli-free, the district ad-ministration directed the panchayat raj engineering department to carry out a survey related to the un-connected tribal habitations, create estimates and speed up the approval process to execute road con-struction works.

Following a number of disturbing incidents pertaining to transportation woes experienced by pregnant women and patients, who are largely dependent on makeshift stretchers (dolis) as their mode of transport to access the nearest healthcare facility, trekking hours, the district administration decided to resolve their connectivity issues. As a part of it, nine road works at Chodavaram constituency in Ravikamatham mandal, including Marupaka and Cheemalapadu villages will be carried out. A detailed project report is prepared for the purpose.

In addition, road works in Rolugunta mandal, Arla village, MK Patnam hamlet, Devarapalli mandal of Madugula constituency and road connectivity at Valabu village form a part of the project.

Also, road works will be carried out in Golugonda mandal of Narsipatnam constituency, Pathamallam-peta and Kasimi villages.

The endeavour aims to provide critical road connectivity to isolated and tribal habitations across the dis-trict. District Collector Vijaya Krishnan mentioned that the progress of these projects is being closely monitored to ensure timely completion and resolve the long-standing transportation challenges of the tribal communities.

Efforts are being made to collaborate with the forest department and ensure connectivity following envi-ronmental guidelines for those who remained unconnected as their location falls under the purview of Reserved Forest Area. With a 6.07-km stretch of roads already connected in Devarapalli mandal in just two-month’s time, the other stretches too are going to be equipped with necessary infrastructure soon. During her recent visit to the villages, Collector Vijaya Krishnan said that the tribals expressed delight and gratitude for enhanc-ing the road infrastructure.

The government of Andhra Pradesh launched a focused initiative of providing relief to tribals from carry-ing dolis. Following which, the road-laying work commenced from ‘Palle Panduga Vaarosthavalu’.

As part of the mission, 17 tribal habitations have been identified for the road connectivity project, cov-ering a stretch of over 18-km and with an estimated cost of Rs.21.79 crore.

Efforts are being made to complete connectivity for 11 habitations by Sankranti festival in January and the rest in the following month.