Ignored by govt, Agra villagers pool resources, build road

AGRA: You don't always need a Dashrath Manjhi to single-handedly cut through a mountain to build a road. As residents of Saraidaruppa villages in Khandauli block of Agra district have shown, all you need is strong collective will to cut through a mountain of red tape. When politicians and bureaucrats ignored their requests to build a 500 m road for easy connectivity to the nearest paved road so that they could reach the city, the villagers teamed up, collected Rs 40,000 and built a ‘kuccha’ road.
The move came after Rakshabandhan, when women refused to visit the village to tie rakhis on their brothers’ wrists because of the terrible condition of the connecting road.
Speaking to TOI, gram pradhan Bhikam Singh said, “We have been suffering for the last 30 years due to the bad road. Commuting is a big hassle and it is very difficult to travel to the outside world. Because of the heavy rainfall this monsoon, it has become almost impossible to travel as the road is completely damaged. There are potholes which are six to eight feet deep.”
“On Rakshabandhan, when many families complained about women refusing to visit their maternal homes in other village due to the bad village road, a panchayat was called the next day in which it was decided that every household of the village will contribute for the construction of a road either by donating money or providing manpower or tools/tractor. And in two days, over 200 men were able to build a 12-ft wide and 500 m long ‘kuccha road’,” the gram pradhan said.
“Considering the benefits of building the road, even the Muslim community of the village gave a portion of the graveyard land for the purpose," the gram pradhan added.
According to the villagers, there are two routes that lead to Saraidaruppa village: The first route is through Malupur village and it is so narrow that one can only walk. The second route is via Ujarai Jat village but the road is dotted with deep potholes.
Brajmohan Ambed, block development officer of Khandauli, said, “We have received the funds from the central and state governments for the construction of village roads under MNREGA. But due to new technical procedure, the allocation of funds for the villages is getting delayed.”
Ambed claimed, “Ninety per cent of village roads in Agra district are in a state of disrepair. We will soon repair theses roads once we complete the process of allocating funds from our end.”