Report and pics by Vinay Pais
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Nov 8: The residents of Kodi village are a relieved lot now after finding that their efforts and prayers have begun to yield fruits. Their long-pending demand for a proper road upto to Vinayaka Talkies that connects the national highway, is about to be realized.

The proposal for constructing the concreted Kodi-Vinayaka road connecting the village to the national highway, had been hanging fire for about a decade. Promises on the eve of every election made by the political parties were soon forgotten by them. The voters of the village were left in the lurch.

No government of the day took action. Elections came but promises did not stop. The leader of the Kodi Citizens Committee Archibald Quadros spent money from his pocket to meet political bigwigs at Delhi but to no avail. Several residents of the locality voluntarily broke down their compound and house walls, with the hope that it might help widen the narrow road, which is in total disrepair. Some of the land owners ungrudgingly parted with portions of their lands for road construction. At last, wisdom dawned on them and they realized that unless the villagers stood united for a public cause, not even gods would listen to their prayers.

With the release of Rs 2.30 crore grant for a concreted Kodi-Vinayaka road under the Prime Minister's Gramee Sadak Yojana by the central government, the citizens of Kodi village have heaved a sigh of relief. All these years, bureaucrats and politicians had shown callous indifference to the plight of these villagers. No body worth his salt except the then MLC Winifred Fernandes had come forward to help the helpless Kodi people at that time. 'Better late than never,' their beaming faces now declare.