After making rounds of different government offices and departments and requesting various political leaders to get a motorable road for their village and failing in these efforts, the residents of a remote village, Bidulgoan, in Pauri district in Uttarakhand joined hands to do it themselves.

The Bidulgoan residents generated funds and created the one and half km motorable road with their resources. Every villager contributed to fulfill one of their most cherishing dreams linked to their native place. The project started in July last year and got completed in three months. Now the road is ready and villagers are openly saying, “Politicians are useless.”

The lockdown period provided the local residents some free time and also motivation to work on the road project, without waiting further for the government support. Bindulgoan is located about 55 kms from district headquarters Pauri. With a population of 270 persons and 70 households, the village is like any remote village in the hill state. The last road head, post the lockdown, was at Datpul-from where the villagers used to start the foot march. The motorable road has brought new zeal in the life of the villagers.

An annoyed Bindulgoan village head (Pradhan) Nandan Negi says, “Politicians are of little use. We are even thinking of boycotting the state assembly election this time.”

Nandan has every reason to be angry with the political leaders and government department as natives of his village were constantly provided assurances and false promises since the past two decades. Fed up with the government mechanism the natives of Bindulgoan began discussing about doing the project through their own resources. They formed a WhatsApp group to share their ideas and began collecting funds.

When they managed to collect a part of the fund, they realized they also need technical support.

Ajeet Negi, working with an engineering firm in Gurgoan, says, “I took three month’s leave (without salary) from my organization for the road project in native village. The project was made successful through active participation of the local people. We hired an engineer, deployed earthmover and used common sense in executing the operation.”

Even after generating Rs 4.50 Lakh for the project, convincing the villagers to provide land for the road was challenging. But, local residents provided all the support. The villagers realized the power of unity by successfully executing the road project.