MARGAO: The incessant rain that lashed the state for the past few days has breached a stretch of the dirt road connecting Kiskond to Cajugotto in the remote Sanguem. The breach occurred at the point where a pipe culvert was built over a stream. With the makeshift road that served as the only access to the hamlet in the hills having been washed away, Cajugotto now lies totally cut off.
On Saturday afternoon, the students from Cajugotto had gone to school as usual but found themselves stranded midway in the woods after the rain wiped out the road.
TOI had recently highlighted the plight of the residents of Cajugotto owing to the failure of the state to provide them the basic infrastructure, 62 years after Liberation. Home to a population of 100 persons with 20 houses, Cajugotto is a 100% tribal hamlet, agriculture and cattle-rearing being its mainstay.
With no motorable road leading to the village, children are the worst sufferers, as they have to trek nearly 6km along the dirt road to get to the nearest high school at Gokuldem.
The situation gets worse during the rains, as several overflowing streams submerge the kutcha road, making it treacherous for the students.
Minister for social welfare Subhash Phal Dessai visited the site along with government officials on Sunday and assessed the situation. Phal Dessai instructed the PWD to get the dirt road repaired immediately. He assured the villagers that he will take up the issue of the construction of a proper access road with the chief minister immediately.
“The kutcha road gets washed off during rains every year,” Phal Dessai said. “And every year after the monsoon, I get this road redone using my own finances. However, this time the pipe culvert has breached and this has severed the link to the village. I have given instructions for its immediate repairs as a temporary measure.”
Without the road, Cajugotto has remained excluded from even the basic primary healthcare system. The nearest healthcare facility is the PHC at Balli, over 25km away. What has complicated matters is the fact that the path connecting Cajugotto to Kiskond passes through areas bordering Quepem and Sanguem constituencies. “It’s like a no-man’s land, and people are the sufferers,” a villager said.
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