Malkangiri: It was a sad moment for thousands of tribals in Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri district on Sunday as they had to bid farewell to a junior engineer of the Rural Development Department who had a major role in the development of the cut-off areas of the district that was once a bastion of CPI (Maoist).
After the inauguration of the Gurupriya bridge by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2018, the State Government provided crores of rupees for the development of Swabhiman Anchal. While government employees were afraid to go to the area due to fear of Maoists, junior engineer Prashant Kumar Behera had come forward.
The State Government gave him the responsibility to connect 151 villages of Swabhiman Anchal. On one hand, the pressure of Maoists remained in the areas and local people also supported them.
At the same time, Behera risked his life to visit the cut-off areas to conduct a survey for the construction of roads and bridges. He would sometimes ride a horse or take boat rides to reach inaccessible areas. Many times he has walked through forests and rivers.
Behera suffered for the last four years but has opened the path of development for the tribal people. Road connectivity between Janbai and Jodamba and peripheral villages along the route, provision of drinking water supply and electricity, and setting up of school and medical center have been possible because of him.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier appreciated Behera for his commitment. He has also received many awards from the district administration and the state government. Now he has been given the responsibility to carry out development works in Rayagada, another Maoist-affected district.
During his farewell meeting on Sunday, the people of Malkangiri’s Swabhiman Anchal garlanded Behera with flowers and carried him on their shoulders, and toured the village. They have appealed to the government to return him to the region once again.
