Villagers build 6-km road on their own in Assam's Dima Hasao

Guwahati: Failing to get any response from the government after repeated requests, villagers of Boro Robi in Dima Hasao district of Assam have constructed a 6-km road on their own, connecting their isolated village to the world.

After knocking at the administrations doors for years, the villagers approached social entrepreneur Aching Zeme seeking a solution.

"The villagers had approached the government many times, but without any positive response. Then they came to me and requested if I could help them build a road on their own. Initially, I was little shocked as well as surprised to see their resolve. Witnessing their plight, I finally decided to do something," Zeme told PTI.

After the initial survey it was decided to construct the road to connect Boro Robi with Zaikang village which has a motorable road built under MGNREGA scheme.

"The stretch is around six km. The villagers of Boro Robihad to cross a hill from Jatinga side. We decided to build the motorable road so that people can at least commute without any difficulty," Zeme said.

The social worker had asked the village to contribute Rs 20,000 for the project before starting of the work.

"I contributed Rs 60,000 personally and started work last month with an initial corpus of Rs 80,000. Our estimate to build the road was Rs 1.5 lakh. So we started seeking help from friends and well-wishers, who have donated Rs 40,000," Zeme said adding Rs 20,000 more are needed to pay vendors.

Apart from various parts of the country, donations have poured in from abroad also, he informed.

The construction of the road started on November 26 and it has been completed this week.

About 30 villages in Dima Hasao have no road at all.

"We have been approaching the government without any result. We will go again to the authority. If the government does nothing we will continue after Boro Robi," Zeme said.

The situation is dismal too when it comes to electricity
connection. Around 30 per cent of all the villages in the district, numbering around 25-30 villages, do not have electricity.

"For the electric connection we have approached the government too. In a few villages some work regarding electrification have started in recent times," he added.
A district administration spokesman said they were aware about the initiatives at local level.