Hathiya Kheda: Four villages in MP waiting for roads

Read in Hindi | Elections are to be held in Madhya Pradesh in November this year. The ruling party BJP is taking out a Vikas Yatra in every village and city. The MLAs are going to their respective areas to promote the work done and are promising to complete those which are yet to be done.

Hathiya Kheda Gram Panchayat, which comes under Shyampur Tehsil of Sehore district, has 4 such villages where necessities like road, electricity, water, housing, and gas are not available even after 75 years of independence.

The important thing is that these villages are only a few kilometers away from the state capital Bhopal and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's home district Sehore.

When the sitting BJP MLA from Sehore, Sudesh Rai reached Hathiyakheda with his Vikas Yatra, he returned without visiting Bugliwali, Chor Imli, Bhatta, and Chitrawali, all of which come under Hathiya Kheda panchayat, because four-wheelers cannot go to these villages.

Disconnected villages

Roads do not exist to connect villages like Bugliwali, Chor Imli, Chitra, and Bhatta with Gram Panchayat Hathiyakheda. There are around 300 houses in these villages, in the four months of the rainy season these villages are completely cut off from the outside world due to the lack of concrete roads.

MLA Sudesh Rai promised various development projects in Hathiya Kheda gram panchayat during his recent visit, but he didn't address the problems of four villages Bugliwali, Chor Imli, Chitra, and Bhatta which come under Hathiya Kheda Panchayat. People claim that the Sarpanch of Hathiya Kheda Panchayat is biased in his development works. "He does not take care of our village, even after so many complaints," says Masoom Raza.

No trace of development

When the Ground Report team reached these villages, we were stunned to see the condition of the people, there was no road to reach the village, and people were living in bad conditions in mud-dung houses. There is no water to drink, food is still being cooked on the wood-charcoal run chulha, there are no toilets in the houses, and wherever one looks there are only signs of poverty and misery.

'The situation was unbelievable. We had heard that 100 per cent of the houses have electricity, 90 per cent of the houses have gas cylinders, and everyone has a solid roof over their heads, so why is it not here?'

Even the villagers do not have the answer to these questions, Masoom Raza of Chitravali village says "Our forefathers have been living here since the time of the Nawabs, this land belongs to the Forest Department. We are living here for 100 years. There are many other nearby villages which are on the forest range land, but all the development projects have reached there, only these four villages of ours have been ignored. We are forced to live in such bad conditions that it is not easy to describe."

Saeed of Bugliwali says "There is no road in the village, the hospital is 10-12 kilometres away from here. Ambulances do not even come here, so seriously ill patients and women at the time of delivery have to be carried on cots to the nearest concrete road. Transporting a seriously ill patient on a motorcycle is risky. Ambulances don't come here. Had there been a concrete road, this would not have been a problem."

The pain of delivering a baby

Roshan B says "When I was in labour pain, they were taking me to the hospital on the charpoy. Because of the delay, I gave birth to a child in the middle of the forest. When the child was born, a stick went into her eye, due to which she lost her one eye."

Zainab says that her daughter-in-law died during delivery. If the ambulance had come here, she might have been saved, she has two small children.

Masoom Raza says that "many problems will be solved once the road is built. People in the village are living in very bad conditions. The road on which you cannot walk in summer, you can imagine what would it become in the rainy season. Leaders come to ask for votes at the time of elections but never show their faces after that."

When the news of these villages was shown in the media, the collector of the district assured that he will personally visit this place. Villagers are hoping for the betterment of their life.

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