INDIA. Mumbai: Despite “Smart Cities” and other schemes of the Government of India, certain areas of Maharashtra, especially tribal hamlets, continue to remain inaccessible due to a lack of road connectivity.
The “Koshimbade Village” in Shahapur taluka in Thane district has no proper internal roads, due to which the condition of tribal people becomes vulnerable, especially during the rainy season.
The school children of “Heducha Pada”, a tribal hamlet, traverse one and a half km daily to reach their school located at a far-off distance at “Ratalepada”.
While in other seasons, they somehow overcome these difficulties, their condition becomes vulnerable due to heavy water-logging and overflowing streams.
The “Pivali Grampanchayat”, which is supposed to provide civic amenities to the area, has not bothered to construct connecting bridges to ensure road connectivity. Eventually, three years back, the villagers themselves constructed a makeshift bridge at their own cost.
However, the bridge gets submerged due to heavy water logging, and its condition becomes precarious. Resultantly the children are forced either to bunk the school or risk their lives walking over the precarious bridge, Rajesh Konde, a resident of the “Heducha Pada”, said.
By and large, during the rainy season, inaccessibility is the major cause of concern due to overflowing streams. Some villagers cross the streams swimming to reach their destination. This year, the academic season has just begun, but the students have already lost 10 days since they could not attend school.
We have urged the Grampanchayat to work out a permanent solution to this problem. But to no avail. If the situation does not improve, we will be left with no other option but to launch an agitation, Prakash Khodka, an officer of “Shramjivi Sanghatana”, said.
Shahapur taluka has a total of 211 villages. The Koshimbade is a medium size village having a population of over 1000. It has a Child Sex Ratio of 1255, higher than Maharashtra’s average of 894.
Despite all odds, its literacy rate is 78.71 % compared to 82.34 % of Maharashtra. The village is administrated by the Sarpanch (Head of the Village), who is elected representative of the village.
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