Jinendra Parakh and Harsh Dubey

Raipur, Chhattisgarh 

A newly laid road under the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana has transformed the lives of 25 odd families living in Khurshipar Khurd, a village located in a hilly area of Rajnandgaon district, Chhattisgarh, about 120 kilometres from the state capital Raipur. 

Previously, there was no pucca road connecting the village to anywhere, say old-timers, as far back as they can remember, and, most certainly, since 1947. 

The people of Khursipar Khurd are convinced the new road has paved the way to a better quality of life. Now the ambulance comes to the village and other outsiders such as the electricity people, etc. are also agreeable to coming there as they can ply their vehicles. The road is now a busy thoroughfare and that has also led to a decline in Naxalite activities in the area, they believe. 

“Till last year, whenever someone fell ill, he or she had to be carried the distance on a cot to hospital,” Baisakhu, an elderly inhabitant of the village, told Gaon Connection. “Connecting the village to Dongargarh (the nearest city) makes everything better,” he said, happily. 

The first phase of the road construction covered four kilometres from Bacherabhata to Kholarghat and was completed in mid-2019. But, it was the second phase of approximately three kilometres from Kholarghat to Khursipar Khurd that made its inhabitants jubilant. It took eight months to build the road, which became ready for use just before the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. 

Before that, the villagers trudged 12 kilometres to Dongargarh, sometimes contending with a water-logged bridge on rainy days. The seven-kilometre paved road has opened up possibilities to the villagers that they never had before. 

Though Khurshipar Khurd is a mere 30 km away from the district headquarters Rajnandgaon, with no road, it may as well have been located hundreds of kilometres away. 

Anyone who ventured out of the village on an errand found it difficult to get back before sunset. The way to their village was pitch dark as there were no street lights. “There was fear of encountering wild animals, and attending weddings and functions in other villages meant we had to spend the night there itself,” Kanhaiya Verma, also from Khurshipar Khurd, said. But, now these problems have been set to rest with the new road, said the pleased-as-punch 45-year-old.  

Lack of a road also came in the way of education. But, Sheila Mandavi managed to earn a Bachelor’s degree and become the most educated girl in Khurshipar Khurd. The 21-year-old pursued her studies against all odds while most others in the village dropped out after the fifth standard as studying further meant a long and bumpy road to another place.  

“My father used to accompany me on foot for three kilometres every day, and thereafter I had to cycle nine kilometres to college at Dongargarh, twelve kilometres away,” Mandavi told Gaon Connection. She later decided to stay in a hostel there to finish her studies. Dongargarh is famous for its Maa Bamleshwari temple and it is a tourist hub.  

“In the absence of a paved road, fixing any glitch in the power supply in the village was also a challenge,” Mamta Verma, a village anganwadi worker, told Gaon Connection. It could take several days. No one wanted to come to the village as one could only walk and the path supported no vehicles, not even two wheelers, she added.

The villagers have struggled with no roads all these years and had to trek at least six kilometres if they had to get even the most basic of household items from a kirana store. Villagers feel that with access to the markets, they are even eating better, with fresher vegetables they can buy easily now. 

Of course, a lot more needs to be done. Fourteen-year-old Sahil Verma hopes that just like the new road the villagers have now got, they will also get better mobile connectivity. Schools are closed due to COVID-19 and online classes at Khurshipar Khurd village have been a struggle, he said. 

“It was certainly not easy to build this road, but due to the perseverance of the officers and employees and constant support of the villagers, it finally materialised,” an official of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana told Gaon Connection on condition of anonymity. “At times, it seemed impossible to build it under the shadow of Naxalism, but everyone worked together and did it,” he said. According to him, several villagers had tears in their eyes the day the road was completed and ready to use. 

While mobile connectivity, clean drinking water, education, and a primary health care centre are still a dream for the villagers of Khurshipar Khurd, for now they are delighted that so many years after Independence, a new road has truly liberated them.

Read the story in Hindi.