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Residents of many villages located on the banks of the Mahanadi river in Odisha's Boudh district have been trapped in a relentless struggle for survival, deprived of the most fundamental human need- clean potable water.

Ironically, these villages, which are reeling under acute drinking  water shortage, fall in the constituency of Panchayati Raj and Water Resources Minister Pradip Kumar Amat.

More than 200 families reside in Bendiripali and Sardhapur villages under Khuntbandh gram panchayat of Boudh block in the district. These two villages are located on the banks of the Mahanadi river, but the villagers are deprived of clean drinking water.

The most surprising thing is that a mega drinking water project has been built on the banks of the river, which is only 3 km away from these villages.

For decades, the villagers have been relying on contaminated water sources, braving the dangers of waterborne diseases and risking their lives daily.

The villagers staged protests, demanding safe drinking water, for several weeks but the BJD government didn't pay any heed to them.

While the State government is bragging about providing safe drinking water in rural areas through the 'Basudha' project, the villagers in the Water Resources Minister's own constituency are struggling to get clean potable water. 

Recently, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan came down heavily on the BJD government for its failure to provide clean drinking water to the people even after being in power for 24 years.

"The Narendra Modi government has provided financial assistance of Rs 10,000 crore under Jal Jeevan Mission to Odisha, but thousands of villagers across the state are facing hardships as they do not have access to safe drinking water due to the 'inefficient and corrupt' BJD government," Pradhan said.  

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases, starting from Phase one on May 13, Phase two on May 20, Phase three on May 25 and the final Phase on June 1.

The results will be announced on June 4.

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SRH is at number three in the table with seven wins, five losses and 14 points. LSG is at the sixth spot with six wins, six losses and 12 points.

In the run-chase of 166 runs, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) did not waste any time as openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma attacked right from the start. In just the second over, Abhishek smashed Yash Thakur for four successive boundaries, looting 17 runs from the over.

The next over was Head's turn to swing his bat, launching Krishnappa Gowtham for three sixes and a four, getting 22 runs from the over.

A massive six over long-on on a Ravi Bishnoi delivery took SRH to the 50-run mark in just 3.1 overs. Head smashed him for a four and then a six over long-off to concluded the fourth over on a high, getting 17 more runs.

The next over saw Abhishek giving the strike to Head and then the Australian proceeding to tear into Naveen-ul-Haq with 4,4,6,4 and 4. Head reached his half-century, his fourth in the tournament, in 16 balls with five fours and five sixes.

Abhishek ended the powerplay on high, once again targeting Yash with two fours and two sixes and taking SRH to 107/0 at the end of six overs, with Head (58*) and Abhishek (46*) unbeaten. SRH reached the 100-run mark in just 5.4 overs.

Abhishek reached his second fifty in the tournament in 19 balls, with six fours and four sixes. Ayush Badoni's first over did turn out to be good, as he gave away 19 runs, including two sixes and a four, all by Abhishek.

SRH brought up their 150-run in 8.2 overs, with Head (85* in 27 balls) and Abhishek 63* in 23 balls) unbeaten.

SRH ended their run-chase in less than 10 overs, finishing at 167/0 in 9.4 overs, with Head (89* in 30 balls, with eight fours and eight sixes) and Abhishek (75* in 28 balls, with eight fours and six sixes).

Earlier, a fine half-century from Ayush Badoni and his partnership with Nicholas Pooran helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) reach a modest total of 165/4 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday.

LSG needed to defend 166 runs to get their seventh win of the tournament.

After winning the toss, LSG opted to bat first. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar made them regret this decision by striking twice in the powerplay. First, in the third over, he removed an out-of-form Quinton de Kock for just two runs in five balls with Nitish Kumar Reddy taking a catch at deep backward square leg.

In the fifth over, Sanvir took a fine diving catch near mid-on, removing the in-form Marcus Stoinis for just three and giving Bhuvneshwar his second wicket. LSG was 21/2 in 4.2 overs.

Skipper KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya joined forces, getting their team through the remainder of the powerplay. At the end of six overs, LSG was 27/2, with KL (19*) and Krunal (2*) unbeaten.

In the seventh over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, Krunal relieved some pressure by smashing him for two sixes and getting his team a total of 15 runs out of it.

By drilling Cummins for a four towards mid-off, KL brought LSG to the 50-run mark in 9.1 overs. However, at the end of the over, he was dismissed by the SRH captain for a sluggish 29 in 33 balls, with a four and a six. T Natrajan took the catch. LSG was 57/3 in 10 overs.

LSG's situation became worse, with Cummins running out Krunal for 24 in 21 balls, with two sixes. LSG was 66/4 in 11.2 overs.
The 14th over bowled by Natrajan proved to be an expensive over for SRH, with Ayush Badoni hitting him for four boundaries and taking a total of 17 runs from the over.

A boundary from Badoni helped Lucknow reach the 100-run mark in 15 overs. At that point, LSG was 102/4, with Badoni (23*) and Nicholas Pooran (18*) unbeaten.

Badoni continued to pierce through the gaps, mainly targeting Natrajan. He brought up his fourth IPL fifty in 28 balls, with eight fours. At the end of 19 overs, LSG was 146/4, with Badoni (50*) and Pooran (34*) unbeaten.

LSG ended their innings at 165/4 in their 20 overs, with Pooran-Badoni getting 19 runs in the final over. Badoni was unbeaten at 55 in 30 balls, with nine fours while Pooran scored 48* in 26 balls, with six fours and a six. Both had a 99-run partnership.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/12) was the pick of the bowlers for SRH. Cummins (1/47) also got a wicket.

Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants: 165/4 (Ayush Badoni 55*, Nicholas Pooran 48, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/12) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad: 167/0 in 9.4 overs (Travis Head 89*, Abhishek Sharma 75*). (ANI)

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For over two decades now, the politics in Kalahandi parliamentary constituency has been revolving around a few key leaders – Bhakta Charan Das of Congress, Pradeep Nayak of BJP and Puspendra Singhdeo of BJD.

This time is no exception as the three have been in the assembly elections fray.

According to political analysts, Kalahandi parliamentary constituency, like the previous editions, is poised to witness this time an interesting triangular fight involving a royal bahu, locally called Rani Maa; an energetic tribal woman and a strong grassroots leader hailing from the Other Backward Class (OBC) community.

Malavika Devi, the queen of Kalahandi who is locally known as Rani Maa, is contesting on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. She is pitted against Droupadi Majhi, a tribal woman. The parliamentary constituency has over four lakh tribal voters.

Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has fielded Lambodar Nial, an OBC community leader hailing from Gouda (milkman) community.

In the 2019 battle, the BJP nominee Basant Panda had wrested the seat from BJD. He defeated the BJD nominee Puspendra Singhdeo by a margin of 26,814 votes, considered a low one in a vast LS segment with around 15 lakh voters. Basant Panda got 4,33,073 votes (35.26 per cent) while Puspendra bagged 4,06,260 votes (33.08 per cent). Congress candidate Bhakta Charan Das, who is this time contesting assembly polls from Narla seat, had finished third with 3,19,202 votes (25.99 per cent).

The BJP dropped Basanta Panda this time and chose to field Malavika Devi, wife of former MP Arka Keshari Deo, with hope that the royal family’s long relationship with the party and the local people’s loyalty towards the loyal family, will fetch it good votes.

The Congress’ nominee Droupadi Majhi who served as chairperson of Thuamul Rampur block hopes her strong links with panchayat level workers will enable her to win the seat.

“I come from a grassroots political background. I was elected as Zilla Parishad member once and twice as chairperson of Thuamul Rampur block. My opponents do not have any links with the people living in villages. I’m pretty confident that people will bless me,” said Droupadi.

Kalahandi, which the ruling BJD claims has seen huge transformation in terms of overall development, is still reporting large-scale migration of farmers and farm workers to other states in search of jobs. Both the BJP and Congress have made this distress migration a major poll issue.

The BJD, on the other hand, is showcasing the irrigation network, infrastructure development and expansion of education and healthcare facilities as its contributions to the constituency. “Our party has done tremendous work in Kalahandi. This was once called Bhoka-ra Bhugola (a land of hunger). Now, it has turned into a green land with a massive increase in irrigation network.  Road infrastructure has developed a lot and an airport at Utkela has become operational,” says BJD nominee Lambodar Nial.

Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das told this newspaper that his party’s woman nominee Droupadi Majhi for Kalahandi LS segment is the carefully chosen face to counter BJP’s Malavika Devi.

“Droupadi can connect better with the people. She is a hard-working woman, who works for the people round the year and not during the election only. She will make a difference. Migration of people is a burning issue here apart from the slow pace of work of Junagarh-Nabarangpur railway line,” he said.

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Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population together constitute 46 per cent in Kalahandi. Most of the people's occupation is agriculture. Kalahandi LS seat comprises tribal-dominated Kalahandi and Nuapada districts. While Kalahandi district has five assembly constituencies, Nuapada has two.

“BJP will do even better this time. Kalahandi district is yet to see development in education and health sector as many of its counterparts have seen in recent times. For me, another most important work is the welfare of women farmers,” she said.

Kalahandi LS seat will go to polls on May 13.

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