The long road and an arduous journey to development Premium

Tribal couple walks 8 km with baby's body due to lack of road infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh.

A tribal couple, who had just lost their baby, had to walk 8 kilometres with the body up and down two hills from Vanija village of Mentada mandal in Vizianagaram district to China Konela hamlet of Ananthagiri mandal in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district, in Andhra Pradesh.

Sara Kothaiah and Sita, from the Konda Dora tribe, work at a brick-making unit at Kolluru in Guntur district, and wanted to take the body of their son, Sara Eswara Rao, to their native village at China Konela for the last rites. The one-and-a-half-year-old boy had asthma and was admitted to a hospital in Guntur, when things took a turn for the worse. He died at the hospital while undergoing treatment.

Though an ambulance was arranged to carry the body, the driver dropped them at Vanija village, about 450 km away from Guntur, refusing to go further, because there was no direct road.

Several people in this area face multiple problems on a daily basis due to the lack of an asphalt road connecting Vanija to Buruga and China Konela. In 2022, the authorities decided to develop a 15-km track (from Sunkarametta side), with cement concrete, but an 8-km stretch remains incomplete with gravel dumped on both sides and some portions developing cracks.

Even experienced drivers steer clear of the road at night, to avoid accidents. According to sources, contractors in collusion with officials are allegedly siphoning off funds sanctioned for the laying of roads and other developmental work, leading to stalling of projects midway.

Seventy-six years after Independence, the lives of tribal people living in ASR district has not changed much. The condition of those living in the interior and hilltop hamlets is even worse, with no electricity, meagre medical facilities, and hardly any access to safe drinking water.

The villagers are forced to stay indoors from dusk to dawn, fearing attacks by wild animals. In case of emergencies, they use the divitilu (fire torch) to see the road as well as drive away wild animals like bears and porcupines.