KONDHALI, July 7: The tribal development schemes announced by the state government remain only on paper, without any concrete plans for implementing them soon.

The deputy chairman of Katol Panchayat Samiti, Nilkanthrao Dhore, alleged that the government is misleading the tribals in this regard.

Dhore said in a statement that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena government in the state had announced various development schemes for helping the tribals in hilly and remote areas. However, due to the negligence of government officials, the schemes were never implemented, he alleged.

Stating the various problems faced by tribals, Dhore said the State Transport (ST) bus routes in tribal-dominated areas were discontinued during rains, causing inconvenience to tribal students. The Nagpur depot of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) discontinued services in the Kondhali-Ghubdi route recently for reasons best known to the officials concerned. Villagers complained to ST officials, but nothing has come out of it so far.

The problems in transport were aggravated as a result of the bad roads, Dhore said. The administration did give permission for layering and tarring Katol-Khutamba-Kondhali-Pusagondi, Kondhali-Dodki-Dhotiwada, and Kondhali-Taroda link roads. However, the work carried out so far was unsatisfactory as the officials were careless, he alleged. The quality of work was so poor that there were all chances of the links roads being washed away completely during the rains, Dhore remarked.

Dhore said that Congress MP Datta Meghe had sanctioned an amount of Rs one lakh from the MP's Development Fund for layering roads in Gharkul Colony of Kondhali. However, the civil department of the zilla parishad has not started work till date. As the road was covered with mud during rains, traffic came to a grinding halt, causing inconvenience to residents, he said. Conditions of the roads in Umathe Nagar and Ram Nagar of the town were also the same, while the Gram Panchayat continued to turn a deaf ear to the demand of residents to tar roads, Dhore alleged.

The road to Primary Health Centre (PHC), Kondhali, was constructed at a cost of Rs six lakh recently. However, the road may not last longer as there were no drains on either sides, he said.

Dhore has urged Datta Meghe, MP, Ramesh Bang, MLA, Guardian Minister Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State Anil Deshmukh to look into the matter without delay.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.