Rourkela, June 30: Two villages - Hamirpur and Sonaparbat - have been denied benefits of development projects as they fall neither under any gram panchayat nor the newly formed Rourkela Municipal Corporation.

"We are on no man's land," Halu Badaik of Hamirpur, which is adjacent to the Ispat General Hospital in the city.

Similarly, Sonaparbat on the southern part of the city is in a similar state. A part of the area is under the occupation of a private industrial house, which manufactures explosives, and it houses the residential colony and industrial unit.

But, Nabakrishna Nagar, which was under Sonaparbat, has become a part of the municipal corporation limits.

"We do not know who should we approach for our problems," said local resident Harish Yadav.

During the recent public hearing for the Rourkela Steel Plant's expansion project, Hamirpur residents spoke about this peculiar situation.

Badaik said: "Ever since Rourkela has been created, we have been facing this dilemma. We wanted a community centre and approached Raghunathpalli MLA Subrat Tarai. He agreed to it, but the work has stopped."

Residents of two modern colonies, RK Vihar and Contractors Colony, are also left aggrieved. A senior teacher of Ispat Autonomous College Prabhat Mallick said: "We are like orphans and deprived of all civic amenities available under the municipality. We are not even entitled to benefits intended for rural areas as we are not part of any gram panchayat as well."

Former Rourkela MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak said: "The problem compounded ever since the 1994 Industrial Town Act had come into effect and the steel plant's captive township was declared as Steel Township." These two areas have not been included in the township. "There have been frequent discussions on this even at the chief secretary level, but nothing has happened," said Nayak.

When this was brought to the notice of additional district magistrate Manisha Banerjee, who has joined recently, she said: "I have not yet got the opportunity to visit these two places. But, I will try my best to resolve the problem."

Corporation commissioner Akhaya Mallick, who joined a month ago, said he was also unaware about the status of the two places. Mallick, who is in Delhi in connection with the smart city proposal, spoke over phone and promised to initiate steps in consultation with officials on return.