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Villagers' labour for road pays off

By Our Correspondent

ADILABAD, MAY 4. The Adilabad district administration has sanctioned Rs. 30 lakhs for further strengthening of the 14-km long Gangapur road in Kadam mandal. Earlier, the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had sanctioned Rs. 25 lakhs for construction of culverts on this road during his November visit to Khanapur mandal headquarters.

The Gangapur road linking Gangapur to Navapet on the main Nirmal-Jannaram road gained significance in recent times as the district police made it a symbol of its reformist approach towards control of naxalism in the area. Gangapur gram panchayat with its nine hamlets was one of the major strongholds of the People's War naxalites in the district.

The new fund sanctioned under the Rashtriya Sama Vikas Yojana would be used for strengthening the ghat section near Gangapur village. These works would be completed before the start of the rainy season so that passenger vehicles could run without any problem. Supplementing the efforts of the district police was the contribution of villagers from the gram panchayat. The villagers contributed the labour component for this road. The road works started on November 28 last year. One month later the road became motorable.

"The land value was Rs. 40,000 per acre before the road works were started. At present, the going rate is Rs 70,000 per care in this rice rich area," pointed out the Kadam police station Inspector, Ch. Raghunandan.

The works on this road was being executed by groups of villagers instead of contractors. This provided additional employment to the villagers. "We divided the 10 villages into five groups. Each group was entrusted with the construction of two culverts each along the road. Similarly, in phases the remaining 26 culverts would also be constructed soon," the Inspector added.

The road has also made it possible for the farmers to take their produce (paddy) directly to Nirmal and other centres. Earlier, they had to take a tedious detour to Pembi to reach Nirmal.

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