Gumla: A 65-year-old woman from a remote village in Simdega was carried on a cot for nearly four kilometres to reach the nearest roadhead for her onward journey to the hospital due to lack of a pucca road.On Saturday, Gango Devi of Chundiyari village developed a severe back pain after taking a fall at her home. The lack of a road in their village meant an ambulance could not reach her doorstep. Locals of the village then stepped forward to help. They carried Gango on a cot and trekked through the undulating terrain to reach the state highway at Barpani. With the ambulance parked at the highway having broken down, locals then pooled money, hired a private ambulance and took her to the hospital.Jyoti Prakash Kullu, the mukhiya of Keshalpur panchayat, said this was not the first such instance. “On April 16, a pregnant woman from the same village was carried on cot to the roadhead and then to a hospital. Despite the issue being flagged several times, local elected public representatives and govt officials have been ignorant,” he said.Besides Chundiyari, adjoining villages in Pakartarn panchayat are also facing the same problem. “No proposal has been made for building a road. Neither has an engineer visited the area,” Rajat Lakra, mukhiya of Pakartarn panchayat, said.As the video clip of Gango went viral, BJP’s state president Babulal Marandi criticised the state health department. Stating that such an incident was shameful, Marandi wrote on X, “It is a shame that such incidents are happening when the Hemant Soren govt had allocated Rs 3,497 crore for health and Rs 5,300 crore on road and bridge infrastructure. Where did all this money go? We know the answer to that.” Stating that the incident had exposed the prevalent corruption in state, Marandi asked Hemant to ensure that such a thing is not repeated.Responding to Marandi’s allegation, state health minister Irfan Ansari said, “The terrain is hilly and hence ambulance cannot reach Chundiyari village. I have rolled out a bike ambulance scheme to ensure people in far flung areas get the benefits of health services. Change will to show on the ground gradually.”With inputs from Ranchi
