Tribals of Neelabanda seek electricity, road to their village

The tribals in Neelabanda of Arla panchayat in Rolugunta mandal of Anakapalli district have appealed to the authorities concerned to provide road and power facility to their village. There are six families belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) — Kondhu tribe living in the Neelabanda hamlet.

The solar battery in the hamlet was destroyed when lightning struck during the recent rains. The villagers have to go to Kunjurthi village to charge their mobile phones and reside in darkness during the night. When they approached the Executive Engineer’s office at Narsipatnam recently, he agreed to send a proposal for provision of electricity to the hamlet, provided the villagers obtain a residence certificate from the Revenue officials.

When the tribal people brought the issue to the notice of the Narsipatnam Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), he spoke to the Rolugunta Tahsildar Ramachandra Rao and directed him to get a survey done, and issue the certificate. On receiving the residence certificate, the tribal people under the leadership of CPI(M) district committee member K. Govinda Rao met the Executive Engineer and handed over the certificate.

Mr. Govinda Rao in a statement on Sunday said that though one month has passed after handing over the certificate to the EE, no action has been taken by the electricity officials to provide power supply to the hamlet.