Women construct 2km road in three days

Move came after petitions to government had fallen on deaf ears for over a decade

Hundreds of women built a two kilometre-long road in Bihar in just three days in a rare display of grit and determination after their plight failed to move the government authorities for over a decade.

The lack of roads had led to the premature death of many villagers here as they could not get proper medical attention on time.

The women scripted a new chapter of determination in Banka district, some 270km east of Patna, early this week, braving the scorching sun.

Residents from several villages tucked away in rural pockets of this district had difficulty commuting from one place to another due to lack of proper roads. This led to the untimely deaths of many villagers who had fallen sick or met with accidents.

Prodded by red tape

In the absence of roads, the villagers had to normally carry the victims to the nearest health centres on wooden cots on foot. Most of the time, this had proved deadlier for the villagers since they failed to reach hospitals on time. The hapless villagers petitioned the authorities for a road many times, but the petitions fell on deaf ears or were caught in bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Eventually, the villagers decided to take it upon themselves to build the road. Armed with spades, shovels and baskets in their hands, more than 200 women took to the streets and dug the ground to construct a two km-long road within 72 hours, bringing joy to dozens of villages along the route. What the government could not do for more than a decade was achieved in a matter of hours.