The Odisha government on Saturday started electrification work in a part of Uparbeda, the native village of NDA’s presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, on a war footing after reports emerged that people were living in the dark. .
However, Murmu no longer lives in that village. She has shifted to Rairangpur, a municipal town about 20 km from Uparbera in Kusum block, decades ago.
Officials and employees of Tata Power North Odisha Distribution Limited (TPNODL) accompanied by earth diggers, electric poles and transformers went to Uparbeda to ensure power supply to the part where it is yet to reach. A senior official of TPNODL told PTI-language, “We have issued orders to complete the electrification work of the company’s Mayurbhanj section and ensure power supply to the entire Uparbera village within 24 hours.”
Uparbeda village with a population of 3,500 has two hamlets. While Badasahi village is fully electrified, Dungarsahi has only 14 houses, which are yet to get electricity. The official, who did not wish to be named, said that Dungarsahi was not electrified as the houses there were built on forest land.
“We have no intention of keeping the villagers in the dark, but it has happened due to lack of some official clearance,” the official said. The fact that people in Murmu’s village live in darkness due to lack of electricity came to the fore when journalists arrived at his native place to interact with people after being nominated as the presidential candidate.
Murmu’s nephew Biranchi Narayan Tudu lives in Dungarsahi hamlet with his wife and two children. “We had requested many people to provide electricity to our Dungarsahi village. However, no one paid any heed, Biranchi’s wife told reporters. We had requested many people to provide electricity to our Dungarsahi village. However, no one noticed,” Biranchi’s wife told reporters.
She said that they did not bring the matter to the notice of Murmu, though she visits the village during festivals. Chittaranjan Baske, another resident of Uparbeda village, said that the local MLA and MP were informed about the matter at the time of elections in 2019, but nothing happened.
He said that people use kerosene lamps to light their homes. Meanwhile, the villagers are excited that one of them is likely to capture the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Uparbeda village is also the birthplace of former MP Salkhan Murmu, Bhabhendra Manjhi and former minister Karthik Manjhi. Official sources said that there are 500 villages in Mayurbhanj district where there are no formal roads and 1350 villages do not have electricity.
with PTI input
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