Malkangiri: In a further boost to economic development of Swabhiman Anchal in Malakangiri, the state government has launched bus service.
Chitrakonda MLA Purna Chandra Baka flagged off the first bus from Jodamba in Swabhiman Anchal to the district headquarters town on Friday. District Collector Manish Agarwal was also present.
The bus to be operated by OSRTC will leave Malkangiri for Jodamba at 9 am every day and return at 6 pm. It will facilitate road communication for around 20,000 people of the Swabhiman area which was cut off from the rest of the state until the Gurupriya bridge was constructed in 2018.
The government had launched piped water supply and healthcare and education facilities in the area recently.
It may be noted that the Swabhiman area was the hotbed of the Maoists for a long time. They had carried out 332 attacks on civilians as well as security personnel from 2008 to 2020.
Following aggressive anti-Maoist operations by BSF and Odisha Police, normalcy was restored in the area and Gurupriya bridge was constructed.
