Stories
Villagers Build Own Road After MLA, Officials Fail to Act in Mandla.
- •Ghurwara village in Mandla district has lacked ambulance access since independence, with children navigating muddy paths to school.
- •Frustrated by government inaction, villagers collected donations and collectively began constructing their own road.
- •Recent rains had turned the dirt road into a swamp, completely halting traffic and isolating the village.
- •The Sarpanch cited budget constraints at the Panchayat level and technical approval rules as obstacles to road construction.
- •MLA Narayan Singh Patta acknowledged the issue, stating he had raised the demand multiple times in the assembly and with district administration.
Key Questions Answered
Residents decided to take matters into their own hands after enduring decades of government neglect, where an ambulance could not reach the village since independence and dirt paths turned into impassable swamps during the rains. Despite countless appeals to local authorities, the Sarpanch, and the MLA, no official road construction or repair happened.
The Koko Gram Panchayat Sarpanch explained that the panchayat lacks a large enough budget for a two-kilometer road and faces technical approval rules. Meanwhile, the Bichhiya Janpad Panchayat's technical staff stated there is no separate special budget or fund provision for regular maintenance of soil and laterite rural roads.
Bichhiya MLA Narayan Singh Patta stated that he is fully aware of the Ghurwara road problem and has raised the demand multiple times on the assembly floor and before the district administration. He noted that the process had previously advanced under MGNREGA before pending due to planning changes, acknowledging that villagers were forced to act after continuous pleas yielded no solutions.
