Village children risk injury on deteriorated school route in Shravasti district

Residents of Vidhayak Purwa, a hamlet in the Jamuanha Bhawaniyapur gram panchayat under the Jamuanha development block of Shravasti district, are expressing anger over incomplete development work that has left a crucial access road in a severely deteriorated condition.

According to local residents, a drain was constructed during the financial year 2022-23 from Jogi's house up to the pitch road, but the authorities failed to install interlocking tiles on the pathway after the drain work was completed. The drain has since become blocked, causing dirty water to accumulate on the road surface. This has rendered the route uneven, potholed, and extremely difficult to navigate. During the rainy season, waterlogging disrupts movement along the entire stretch.

In an attempt to avoid the waterlogged sections, brick rubble has been dumped on the road, which has made the passage even more hazardous. Both two-wheeler riders and pedestrians now find it extremely difficult to use the route safely.

The most severe hardship is being faced by children attending the Primary School Vidhayak Purwa, also known as Dwarikaganv Bag. These students have to traverse this dilapidated road every day to reach school and return home. On multiple occasions, children have slipped in the mud and fallen, raising serious safety concerns among parents and teachers alike.

Villagers have now demanded that interlocking work be carried out urgently from Jogi's house to the pitch road to restore safe passage. Responding to these concerns, Asrar Alam, the representative of the gram pradhan, stated that a 150-meter interlocking project has been included in the action plan and assured that the route will be made accessible soon.

The hamlet of Vidhayak Purwa has a troubled history tied to natural disasters and displacement. In 1996, a devastating flood in the Rapti river submerged dozens of hamlets including Kalkalwa, Gangapur Bhagad, Belari, Kodiya village, and Rampur. Displaced residents from these villages relocated with their belongings and settled along roadsides. The village of Kalkalwa was almost entirely wiped out, with only the primary school remaining intact. The displaced families from Kalkalwa eventually settled along the Kakardaree Abdullah Ganj road.

During that period, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in power at the centre. Padmasen Chaudhary, the Member of Parliament from Bahraich, facilitated the construction of the Kalkalwa marginal embankment. This embankment, completed in 1998, ran from Abdullah Ganj jungle through Malauna Purwa to Kalkalwa. Following its construction, many residents from Kalkalwa settled on several acres of ceiling land adjacent to Dwarika village in the Jamuanha Bhawaniyapur hamlet area, and the settlement came to be known as Dwarikaganv Bag.

In 2007, legislator Charda Shabbir Ahmed Balmiki arranged for the construction of a primary school in the area. Subsequently, district panchayat member Ram Pratap Singh installed a boundary wall around the school, which spurred further development in the locality. A proposal for a water tank in Jamuanha Bhawaniyapur was approved on ceiling land, but as construction progressed, the approach road became riddled with pits and fell into disuse.

During 2022-23, the block pramukh oversaw the construction of a drain from Jogi's house to the pitch road. However, the drain has since become clogged, and dirty water now flows onto the road itself. The gram pradhan attempted to address the situation by having brick rubble laid on the road, but the uneven surface has created additional problems. Children now face difficulty walking to school, slipping in the mud and getting their clothes soiled, compounding the frustration of local families who continue to await a permanent solution.