Tribal residents of Donkada village in the Anakapalli district’s Narsipatnam constituency were denied access to essential facilities for many years.

In addition to the absence of roads, kids in this region had to walk kilometers each day to go to school.

In a unique protest, the village’s tribe members, unable to tolerate the authorities’ indifference, knelt down and folded their hands in a “namaste,” pleading with them to at least consider their problems.

A BT road of Rs. 1.35 crore was approved by the government in 2023. However, since the forest department must provide approval, the proposal never materialized.

Under the auspices of the Fifth Schedule Sadana Committee, the tribal people protested in January under the flag of “Adivasi garjana” to voice their displeasure with the excessive delay. Vijaya Krishnan, the District Collector, received a representation.

In response, the Collector gave the appropriate authorities instructions to investigate the matter once the MLC election code was removed.

The tribe members, however, express dissatisfaction about the project file collecting dust in the RDO headquarters. Road construction in the area becomes very challenging once it begins to rain. The tribals thus urged the relevant authority to start the road construction as soon as possible.

Tribals M Pothuraju and K Sathibabu were among those in attendance, along with CPM leader K Govinda Rao.