The lack of an all-weather road in Rayagada district forced villagers of Sadakana, under Siriguda panchayat in the Gudari block, to carry a nine-month pregnant woman on a string cot for over three kilometers through slush and mud on Thursday.
The woman, identified as Sumi Kadraka, suddenly experienced labour pains. Family members immediately dialed the 108 emergency ambulance service. However, heavy and persistent rainfall had turned the village’s only dirt road into a muddy, waterlogged trap, making it entirely inaccessible for the emergency vehicle.
As Sumi’s condition worsened, her family and villagers had no choice but to place her on a traditional string cot and carry her on their shoulders. They walked more than three kilometres through a dangerous, muddy path to reach Badapankal, where an ambulance was stationed. She was then taken to the local Community Health Centre.
Every monsoon, Sadakana village gets completely cut off from the outside world. Despite repeated pleas and petitions to the panchayat and block administration for a pucca road, but in vain.
