Adivasi Stage Unique Protest Over Abandoned Road Work

Visakhapatnam: Tribal people of Ravikamatham mandal in Anakapalli district protested in a unique manner by planting tree saplings on the road, work on which has been abandoned by authorities.

The protests had been organised on two key routes, from Chinnapasili to T. Ajjapuram BN road and between Ramannadorapalem and P. Kotnabelli. Both these routes had been dug up, but authorities laid no road, leaving the two routes so damaged that they are unusable.

Tribal people thus planned to plant saplings on these roads to register their protest. Further, they staged a dharna, demanding that road works be completed immediately.

According to CPM leader K. Govinda Rao, state government had sanctioned ₹6.98 crore on October 30, 2023, for a 14-kilometre road that would benefit approximately 8,000 people residing in the villages of Chinnapasili, Erra Bandha, K. Gadapalem, K. Kotnabelli, P. Kotnabelli, Ramannadorapalem, Dolavanipalem and T. Arjapuram in the Ravikamatham mandal of Anakapalli district.

Work began in January 2024, and gravel had been laid and compacted over a six-kilometre stretch. Two more kilometres of the road from P. Kotnabelli to Ramannadorapalem had been dug up but left incomplete.

When officials questioned the contractor, he demanded payment for the work already done. The dug up roads have deteriorated with huge pits. As a result, ambulances cannot reach Old Kotnabelli village, as they may fall into these pits.

Earlier, a BT road had been built from Chinnapasili to T. Ajjapuram. But heavy trucks from nearby granite quarries have badly damaged it, creating large potholes. Tribal residents thus have to walk nearly 15 kilometres to reach the village secretariat.

Given such hardship, Govinda Rao and tribal leaders Padi Beniyya, S. Valasaiah, and others have warned that if the road works do not resume soon, they will intensify their protest.