Villagers repair crumbling road after government ignores repeated complaints

Villagers in Pratapgarh district have taken matters into their own hands and repaired a damaged road themselves after their repeated complaints to authorities went unheeded, raising questions about the government's responsiveness to public grievances.

The Khadanja road, which connects Gajrahi Primary School, Gajrahi village and Nevada to the Gajrahi-Chamarupur road in Lalganj tehsil area, had been lying in a dilapidated condition for a long time. The road was riddled with potholes at several places, causing immense hardship to villagers as well as schoolchildren who had to commute daily. The problem became even more acute during the rainy season, making movement extremely difficult for residents.

According to the villagers, they had lodged complaints multiple times through the IGRMS portal seeking repair of the road. Apart from that, they had also made demands to the gram pradhan and other concerned officials to get the road fixed, but despite their efforts, the problem remained unresolved. Even after continuous complaints, the road repair work was not carried out, leading to growing resentment among the villagers.

Finally, the villagers decided to stop waiting for the government machinery to act and took it upon themselves to repair the road. Through mutual cooperation, the villagers contributed voluntary labour and repaired the damaged Khadanja road. This initiative by the villagers has raised hopes that movement on the road will now become easier.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the working style of the responsible department and officials for not getting the road repaired despite complaints being lodged multiple times. The villagers say that had the complaints been taken cognizance of in time, they would not have needed to repair the road through voluntary labour themselves.