For the past 16 years, 10 families from Ghoteli ward number two, Keri village, are demanding for a 600-meter road in their ward. Around 70 villagers are residing at Ghoteli.

According to the villagers they are facing many problems in their day-to-day life. Without the road no ambulances can come to their village in the event of anyone falling sick. The pregnant women are the most affected when their time comes for deliveries.

Villagers are not able to take their vehicles at their doorsteps in the absence of an access road. Besides this, they cannot take materials required for construction or repairs of their houses. The residents of Ghoteli are forced to park their vehicles near the roadside on the border of their village.

“We have raised the road issue during the village Gram Sabha several times, but the Panchayat body has not taken any action,” say villagers.

“We have passed a resolution in the Gram Sabha, regarding the road and submitted a file to the PWD (Roads), Valpoi. The PWD officials had visited this ward and had even conducted a survey and took measurements of road, but till date nothing has been done,” says a Ghoteli villager.

“Later the PWD (Valpoi) had cleared the road file and submitted it to the Town and Country planning office Bicholim. The Deputy Town Planner had not allowed to construct the zig zag road in Ghoteli,” says Laxman Pandurang Gawas, a panch member.

In rural villages, the Government cannot build straight roads due to various obstacles. They have to construct zig zag roads according to the available land, because the villagers have not built their houses in one line leaving no space to built a straight road. In every village, the villagers have built their houses in different directions, says Pandurang Gawas, ex panch member.