Villagers sow paddy on the road in Birbhum’s Rohinipur. Picture by Soumi Bhattacharya

Rohinipur, Aug. 12: Residents of six villages in Birbhum’s Nanoor today sowed paddy on a dirt road to protest the administration’s delay in converting the stretch into a metalled one even though funds were sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna three years ago.

The immediate spark for the protest was the death of a baby moments after being born on Friday as the ambulance could not reach Patisara village on time because of the bad road, which has become muddy in the monsoon. The delivery was done by a midwife at Shiuli Mete’s home.

Nearly 100 residents of Rohinipur, Thanaghat, Patisara, Danyopara, Kuthipara and Harmur villages, which have a population of 8,000, took part in the “symbolic protest”. The 6km stretch connects the villages.

“We are fed up with the administration’s apathy to construct the road. On Friday, we had arranged for an ambulance to take Shiuli to hospital after her labour pain started. But because of the pathetic condition of the road, the ambulance could not arrive on time. As a result, the newborn died. Even though the funds to build the metalled road was sanctioned three years ago, nothing has been done,” said Mohammed Ainul Haque of Rohinipur village.

The elderly Nurunnesa Bibi said: “The sowing of paddy seeds is symbolic. We did it to draw the attention of the administration.”

Another villager accused the previous and present governments of dragging their feet on the project. “The Left Front government did not construct the road. The Trinamul-led government also does not seem interested,” he said.

Rohinipur resident Sahana Sultana, a first-year BA student of Bolpur College, said the situation had worsened in the past few days because of rain.

“Residents like me who have to go to Bolpur (40km away) to attend school or college have to carry their cycles on their shoulders for almost a kilometre to reach the metalled road. We take a bus to Bolpur from Basapara,” Sahana said.

Schoolboy Sheikh Badsha, a resident of Rohinipur, said: “We can’t even ride a cycle on the road, it’s so bad. We have no option but to carry our cycles on our shoulders.”

The district administration has a cell to monitor projects under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. A district official said: “The funds were sanctioned in 2009. We are finding out the reason for the delay.”

The district magistrate, who heads the cell, said he would ask the zilla parishad to start work immediately. “I have asked the additional district magistrate in charge of the zilla parishad to look into the matter and immediately take steps to start work to build the road,” J. P. Meena said.

Jadav Dhara, a CPM member of the Left-run zilla parishad, said: “Work to construct the road was postponed because of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.”

He refused comment when asked why work was not started after the elections.