IAP: developing connectivity for curbing Maoist?

“We will not allow the administration to spend IAP fund to construct the road to our village, if our demands are not fulfilled. We have two demands, the first is – allocate fund for drinking water, health, education and irrigation and second is spend not less than 60 lakh for the construction of the road as promised earlier” say the villagers of Pathdarha and Kathphar of Boden block in Nuapada district, Orissa..

These villages are located on a plateau at 3000 ft. altitude considered to be ‘infested’ by Nuxals. There are 21 small hamlets with a total of more than 2000 tribal households in these two villages. As there is no road, the villagers have to track down the hills to fetch rice and other requirements.

“The administration had promised us to spend Rs.60 lakh for the construction of road but only 25 lakh has been allocated. The district administration is biased in distributing this fund. They say that the fund is for Nuxal area development but maximum amount have been allocated to non-nuxal area of Nuapada block”. Said Haralal Majhi of Boden.

“Equal importance to development of health, education and irrigation infrastructures has not been given” he added.

Nuapada is one of the 60 selected tribal and backward districts of India which has been covered under the scheme of Integrated Action Plan (IAP) approved by the government of India on 25.11.2010. In Orissa 15 districts have been covered under this programme. Ministry of Panchayati Raj has released Rs.25 crore per district to the state consolidated fund for the implementation of the scheme during 2010-2011. It has been planned that a block grant of Rs.30 crore will be provided during 2011-12

Nuapada district has prepared a plan of 40 crore. At district level a committee headed by the district collector consisting of the Superintendent of Police and the DFO has been formed. The committee has been given flexibility to spend the amount for development activities according to need as assessed by it. The priority areas of expenditure have been specified i.e. development of public infrastructures and services such as school buildings, Anganwadi centres, Primary health centres, drinking water supply, village roads and electric lights etc. But the people of the district complain that more than 75 percent of the total amount has been placed for connectivity.

The distribution of fund between different blocks has also been lopsided. More funds have been allocated to plain areas. One third of total allocation has been earmarked for the plain areas of Nuapada block. The so called Nuxal areas which should have got maximum attention have been neglected. They have got only 13.69 crore out of total estimated budget of 40 crores (34 percent)

“We thought that a major share of the central fund under IAP would be allotted to the remote areas but it is the opposite. The plain areas have got more which are also regularly getting more allotment under MGNREGS” says the Sarpanch of Bhaisadani.

The distribution of the funds along different sectors is also very lopsided. 78 percent of the total allotment has been allocated for connectivity which gets major attention under MGNREGS as well. Only 0.41 percent has been allocated for health. Education sector has got 0.32 percent and drinking water which should have got the major attention has got only 6 percent. Only 8.52 percent of the total fund has been earmarked for irrigation.

“It is frustrating that the administration is providing less attention to the critical issues of the people and this is the main cause of people’s detachment from the mainstream development process” says Ghanashyam Bhitria, convener of KSS (Krushak Sakti Sangathana) - a farmers’ organization of Nuapada district.

Why the administration is spending more amount in developing connectivity in the Mao infested area ? “The objective is to control the Maoists”, answer the villagers. “We are not against the construction of roads, but the administration should address the critical issues of health, education and drinking water too.” They added.

Most of the villages in the so called Mao infested area in Nuapada district have no access to safe drinking water, which caused 52 diarrhea deaths during last summer. The situation has not changed yet. The people will again resort to contaminated source during the summer this year. Absence of health facility in these villages is another matter of concern. There is hardly any irrigation facility in any of these villages. The IAP has not addressed all these issues.

Raising all these issues, the Zilla Adivasi Sangathan had organised a rally in the district headquarter a few days back. In addition to this the tribals had also raised issues of corruption. They claimed that the district collector is directly involved in the corruption – collecting 5 percent in advance. But these claims did not gain ground.

But certainly, the Maoists will gain ground, if actions against such mindless activities are not taken early.