Panna (Madhya Pradesh)

Last week, on January 9, when middle-aged Lakhan Lal Sharma got injured after falling off from the terrace of his under-construction house, he knew that medical aid would not be easily accessible.  

Unable to walk by himself, Sharma needed to be transported and the only way for his family to do so was to carry his cot on their shoulders and walk for four kilometres to the nearest motorable road before availing a vehicle to access the community health centre which was situated another 12 kilometres away.

Sharma, a resident of Madhiya village in Amanganj town in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district, finally reached the health centre after three hours of suffering pain due to jerks on the way. He is not the only resident of the village who had to experience the trouble in accessing urgent medical aid. The village,which is situated at a distance of 50 kilometers  from the district headquarters  is inhabited by almost 400 residents and the fear of a medical emergency sends shivers down the spine of all of them as the cumbersome procedure to avail medical aid is the first thought that strikes them in such emergencies.

Pramod Sharma, Lakhan Lal’s neighbour was quick to offer help.

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“Lakhan Lal had suffered an internal injury around his waist. It was impossible for him to walk as the pain was evidently too much to bear. His condition seemed serious.  It was raining heavily too. Not even a bike can be driven to our village as the road is very narrow and kachchi (unmotorable). We carried his cot for four kilometres and then used a car to take him to the swasthya kendra (community health centre) in Amanganj,” Pramod told Gaon Connection.

Standing beside his neighbour, Lakhan Lal’s younger brother Ram Prakash Sharma stated angrily that this is how poor villagers have been carrying their patients to the health centres.

Patient’s video goes viral on social media

Luckily, local villagers recorded a video of men carrying Lakhan Lal’s cot through the agricultural field which soon went viral on social media and caught public attention.

A day after the incident, on January 10, protesting villagers went to the office of the sub-divisional magistrate of the Amanganj tehsil and submitted a letter informing the official about their long-standing demand for a road to be constructed to connect their village with the motorable road which is four kilometres away.

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“I will inquire about the condition of the road in the Madhiya village and ask the chief executive officer of the Gunair village council about it. The road construction will be ordered soon,” Deepa Chaturvedi, sub-divisional magistrate, Amanganj told Gaon Connection.

Absence of road affects healthcare, education, marriages

From health to education, the absence of a road adversely affects almost every aspect of life for the residents of Madhiya village.

Samant Singh Rao, a 48-year-old resident of the village told Gaon Connection that without a road it is hard to imagine any progress in the village.

“Things here are as they were when I was born. They say education is key to ujjwal bhavishya (bright future) but the children here find it hard to access schools after kaksha paanch (class five) as the school here doesn’t have classes after that,” Rao said.

“The boys are sent to study to a far off village which is two kilometers away but the worst brunt of the road’s absence is felt by the girls who are discouraged from going that far and their education ends,” he added.

The villager also pointed out that it’s not a straight road to the adjacent village. 

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“There are many difficulties in travelling to the school on foot as well. A small brook has to be crossed over, there’s muck on the road and the entire stretch is infested with snakes and scorpions. It’s full of risks. Parents are always afraid of letting their children go to school. Manish, a student of class ninth was bitten by a snake en route to his school four years ago and he died,” the 48-year-old added.

Apart from health and education, the absence of a road also affects the social fabric of the village.

“The bride’s family doesn’t send their daughters to be married to the young men in our village. They say that they won’t get their daughters married to the grooms from a village that doesn’t even have a road,” the villager told Gaon Connection.

“There are as many as 15-20 young men in the village whose age is beyond 30 and are not able to get married. Also, many of the girls in the village are of the marriageable age but no family accepts them as brides for the same reason,” he informed.

Meanwhile, Mangal Singh Rajawat, a retired soldier and a resident of the same village told Gaon Connection that the Panna district magistrate has been informed about the problem but the road is still not constructed.

Rajawat also alleged that in 2018, the road’s construction had begun but the private contractor ran away before completing the project.

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When Gaon Connection called the village head to know about the road project, the phone was answered by the village head, it was revealed that the contractor ended the road construction midway in 2018 and no government official enquired about it.

Ramkripal Sharma, a resident of the village told Gaon Connection that the villagers had threatened to boycott the 2019 Lok Sabha elections following which they were assured of a road project by the officials. 

“But it was a hollow assurance. The local MLA (member of legislative assembly) Rajesh Verma had visited the village to compensate the parents of the child who died due to snake bite but nobody came here ever since,” he said.

Read this report in Hindi