A tempo carrying nutritional food for children of Maher village in Maharashtra had to return mid-way last week due to poor road connectivity in the area.
The village, located in Parbhani district, about 250 km from here, often loses contact with the outside world during rains as it does not have a proper connecting road, its sarpanch Vishal Bhosle told PTI. Maher, having a population of around 500, lies three km away from Tadkalas-Palam road in Purna taluka and it never had an all-weather road, he said.
"This year, the road condition worsened so much that a tempo carrying nutritional food from an anganwadi (government-run women and child care centre) for children of the village had to return mid-way as it couldn't move on this road. Kids were deprived of their nutritional supplements," Bhosle rued. Even teachers coming from outside to a primary school in Maher have to walk a long way at times as it is difficult to commute on two-wheelers on the muddy road, he said.
When it rains too much, the path gets inundated and some times teachers have to carry students on their shoulders to the school, he said. "Since five years, I have been trying to follow up with authorities for the construction of a road on this three-km-long stretch connecting the village to Tadkalas-Palam road.
Some years back, a tar road was laid on about 500-metre stretch, but we never got a complete all-weather road since independence," the village head said. Local resident Motiram Paol said when it rains continuously, they get stuck in the village.
"Even when the rain stops, we are able to move out only after two-three days," he said. When contacted, Purna tehsildar (revenue officer) Pallavi Temkar told PTI that she was unaware of the road condition in Maher village. "I will speak to the sarpanch and see under what scheme we can provide them a better road," she said.