Koraput, 11th Sept 2025: “No water, no hearing!” – shouted villagers as they surrounded the officials. The grievance redressal program had to be shut down halfway. The villagers had been lodging complaints for the last three years due to the lack of drinking water facilities. However, no effective action had been taken. This led to a major uproar from the people at the Gram Panchayat level. As a result, the public grievance hearing camp was cancelled, as informed to us by Sushama Pangi.
This incident occurred in the Dudhari Gram Panchayat under Semiliguda Block in Koraput District. The grievance hearing program was scheduled as per the directive of the district administration. Various officers, including group development officials, were present.
As soon as the officials arrived, before the grievance camp could even start, the villagers collectively surrounded them. For two to three years, repeated complaints had been made from Dudhari and Sundiput villages about the lack of drinking water supply through pipelines. As no effective action had been taken, the villagers said there was no point in holding the grievance hearing and began to protest.
Committee member Sushama Pangi and Naib Sarpanch Jambubati Nayak were present and demanded an explanation from the RWSS (Rural Water Supply & Sanitation) officials regarding the negligence. However, the engineers remained silent and did not respond. As a result, the meeting was abruptly called off, and the villagers started shouting slogans outside the venue.
The attending officials were then pressured to inspect the status of the water projects in the two villages. Consequently, they were forced to visit the villages and review the status of the drinking water projects. They assured that piped drinking water supply would begin in Sundiput village within a day or two.
Even though the project was reportedly complete, water supply was not possible due to electricity issues. The departmental engineer stated that efforts were being made to operationalize the system as soon as possible.
On the other hand, the elected representatives said that the grievance hearing program will only be resumed after drinking water is actually supplied to the people of the Panchayat. Otherwise, intense protests will be launched and roads will be blocked, warned Naib Sarpanch Jambubati Nayak.