Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Indian villagers take over govt road project

       Frustrated villagers in northeast India have grabbed spades and axes and started building their own road to the local town after 20 years of government delays, a newspaper reported yesterday.
       About 750 residents from seven villages are working on the 25km route to connect them to Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, said the Hindustan Times ."Last month, we decided that we had waited long enough," Tyllilang Mukhim,a village elder from Nonglatem, told the newspaper, which published pictures of dozens of women preparing the rough ground using basic hand tools.
       "Almost all of us grow a variety of vegetables, rice, ginger ... and it is not possible to take them to the market before they rot," Mr Mukhim said.
       The villagers plan to finish the job within 25 days. The road-building project was first started by the state government in 1989. State government officials blamed lack of funds for their failure to complete the job.

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