Sambalpur: The water-locked Kud Gunderpur gram panchayat in the district will shortly be connected to the mainland.

Considered a "kud" - an island surrounded by the Mahanadi on all sides - boats are the only means of communication between it and the mainland.

Kud Gunderpur is 35km from Sambalpur town with a population of 10,000 in six villages. These villages are Kud Gunderpur, Kud Tabla, Kud Jampali, Kud Amlipali, Kud Mahada and Kud Padkhai.

The problems of the residents of these six villages compound during the monsoon when the Mahanadi water rises. The villages face neglect on health, education and transportation fronts.

Students have to cross the river to access higher education. There is no primary health centre on the island. Critically ill patients are ferried to the river bank and then across by boat.

"Because of the lack of communication infrastructure, people outside are generally not interested to get married to the people of the island," said Narayan Naik of Kud Gunderpur.

Farmers of these villages have to work hard to transport their crops to the co-operative societies. There are reports of distress sale of paddy on many occasions during the kharif season.

These villages did not have access to electricity till 1975. The then power minister Sriballav Panigrahi, who represented Sambalpur in legislative Assembly (Kud Gunderpur fell under his constituency), took the initiative and connected high transmission lines to these villages in 1975. Along with power, he also installed some lift irrigation points on that occasion.

The residents of Kud Gunderpur have been demanding a bridge to connect the island for the past 40 years. The rural development department had floated tenders 11 times for a bridge but no company had shown interest to take up the work.

Citing neglect to the area, voters of entire panchayat boycotted the general elections in 2009. The construction work of the project was handed over to public works department (PWD) in 2014. On February 27, 2016, chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of the bridge.