Bored In Lockdown? These Nainital Villagers Utilised Free Time To Rebuild 3 KM Road Stretch In One Month

A village in Uttarakhand's Nainital has put up a shining example of how to use the coronavirus lockdown time productively. The residents of Kharki village in Nainital successfully rebuild a road to their village in this time period. The village is home to 40 families.

According to reports, the government had constructed a three-kilometre long road ten years ago to connect their village to Shilauti in Nainital district.

The road was used for travelling and transportation for some time but eventually fell into disrepair.

Reportedly, landslides on the road started to accumulate debris and shrubs grew all around. The route from their village to the city was almost completely closed, the connectivity lost.

However, the villagers were forced to take the same route.

"The track was barely a-meter-and-a-half wide. We used it for time but because of the carelessness of those responsible for its maintenance, it was soon covered in shrubs and boulders," Durgadatt Paladiya, a resident of Kharki village, told The Times of India.

The villagers said that despite several complaints the authorities did not pay attention to the matter. It was only then the villagers decided to take the matter in their own hands and fixed the road together, putting the days under lockdown to constructive use.

"We gathered around 25 people from the village and decided to work in small teams to clear different stretches," said Vinod Kumar Arya, another villager.

Vinod said the villagers took turns to prepare meals for the people who were working on rebuilding the road. One of the major challenges was access to proper equipment due to which they used regular household appliances.

Also, fear of attack by the wild animals in such hilly terrain added to the threats.

Finally, in about a month, the road had been build at least two-metres wide, completely clear, flattened and easily accessible. The road which was difficult to walk on, one can now ride a motorcycle comfortably.

"For the very first time, a two-wheeler reached our village, For generations, we had to trudge up the three kilometres, but now that the road has been widened, people can easily ride motorcycles," said one of the villagers.

The villagers diligently followed the lockdown norms including wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and worked from 7 am to 1 pm, due to restrictions amid the lockdown.

Also Read: Lockdown 3.0: Karnataka Government Provides Free Transport To Migrants Till May 5