Visakhapatnam: Where there's a will there's a way

Visakhapatnam: Unable to bear the officials' apathy any longer, villagers of Madhum hamlet of Hukumpeta mandal have come forward to 'pave their own path'.

Stretching a km-long distance, the villagers in the area teamed up to ready a kutcha road and build a bridge made of wooden logs over the stormwater drain.

After years of submitting petitions to the authorities concerned for the construction of the road to their hamlet, the villagers say that they were vexed with the officials' attitude. Apparently, it has pushed them to volunteer themselves for the construction of the one-km road and an over-bridge through 'sramadanam'.

Locals here complain that the village has no proper road connectivity and that in times of monsoon, their ordeals get intensified. "During rainy season, we would be completely cut off from the rest of the world as our life would come to a standstill. Until the rain subsides, we cannot step outdoors," rues S Kondalarao, a villager in Hukumpeta mandal.

in case of any medical emergency, there is no access to an ambulance in this region as there are no roads. People in the village continue with the tradition of carrying pregnant women in a 'doli' (makeshift stretcher) to gain access to the nearby healthcare facility or an ambulance.

Expressing their ire, the villagers demand payment of wages for their service rendered for the construction of the road under MGNREGA. Along with this, they also appeal to the officials concerned to lay BT roads in the village. "Government continues to change but our standard of life remains unaltered," lamented another resident of the village.