Harshini Brhamavar

Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Feb 18: Guddebettu in Mooodubelle is just 13 km away from the district headquarters but the life of the people here is hard. Leaders, who frequent this village during elections, disappear thereafter after doling out fake promises.

The people of Guddebettu and Ankudru in Moodubelle live by the side of the rivulet. The road they take to their homes has not been asphalted for the last 13 years. About 50 families living here have to tread this road that is full of loose crushed stone pieces. Jovita D'Mello, a local, says that several memorandums were given to legislator, gram panchayat and other officials seeking to repair this road but nothing has appended so far.

A dam built near the residential area across Papanashini rivulet is in precarious condition, has become dilapidated, and steel rods provided as protection for the dam have become rusted. The rods have disappeared in certain places, and school children take this route to go to schools. During the rainy season, the area is covered by water, and senior citizens are the hardest hit. In one case, a sick woman had to be physically carried to the main road as auto rickshaws were unwilling to come to the village. Students, Jackson and Saumya point out that they find it difficult to take their own vehicles on this road and the rickshaw drivers are justified in hesitating to come here.

The women here are engaged in jasmine cultivation and dairying but lament the fact that monkeys keep destroying their crops. The department has not paid to them any compensation so far. Locals say that the road they have to take becomes muddy and standing water on the road during the monsoon season comes up to the knees.

The only public well in the region has not been repaired and the protective wall on one side has crashed, posing danger. The water here has been contaminated, and this water is used for agricultural activities. The road to the village does not have street lights and hence walking on the road poses a real challenge during the nights. Although a board says that Rs 2.1 lac worth work was conducted on the road, no such work is visible.

The people are angry at the people’s representatives who want votes but are not willing to address problems. The officials and people's representatives need to give some attention to this area and see that the lives of the people become bearable.