So near and yet so far. That’s Odu, a small village just 3 km from the famous Naldehra tourist hotspot near Shimla that is still waiting to be connected by road. The villagers have no choice but to undertake the arduous 6-km trek up and down an extremely steep hilly path on a daily basis. During the monsoon and when it snows during winter, the track becomes slippery and dangerous.
What is more upsetting for the 48 families in Odu is that all the other villages under Naldehra panchayat, including those 15-20 km away, have motorable roads. Odu is still awaiting clearances for a road as it falls in a forest zone.
The village has no ration shop, so its residents have to buy it from the nearest outlet and travel on the treacherous path carrying 30-40 kilos of grocery on their head or shoulders. On our way back from the village, we met Reena carrying a massive load on her head.
“To hire a pony carriage we have to shell out₹200 per bag. For a gas cylinder we pay ₹400 for the carriage alone. How can we afford it?” laments Satya Devi, a gutsy ward member who actively participates in panchayat activities. “When someone falls sick or gets hurt, he/she has to be carried by at least four men on a charpoy or palki (jute bed or palanquin).”
An elderly woman, Radha had hurt herself twice and had to undergo heart surgery. Getting her to a hospital proved a Herculean task each time. “The only saving grace is that people in this village are like one family and come to each other’s rescue,” she says.
With no medical facility to fall back on, pregnant women either have to deliver babies at home or get themselves admitted to a hospital much before the due date, says another resident, Krishna. “I was admitted more than a week before my due date for delivery.”
Thankfully, there is a primary school in the village. For higher classes, the children have to trek almost four hours to the nearest school in Durgapur.
Most of the families in Odu are dependent on tourism in Naldehra for their sustenance. While around 20 families offer horse and pony rides, some are employed in hotels, or drive taxis and do odd jobs. In the lean tourist season they are reduced to depending on daily wages. “In the peak season, some days we earn ₹1,500 or ₹2,000, on others just ₹5. Whatever money is earned is distributed equally among the union members,” says a villager.
With the men out the whole day, it is the women who work in the small agriculture land they possess. “If we had been connected by road, we could grow cash crops like vegetables and earn like others in the gram panchayat. But now we only grow maize or wheat for our own consumption,” says Satya Devi.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi