SIDRA KHAN
A tragic 58-year-old woman’s death has exposed the dire lack of infrastructure in Sattari, after Shweta Shivdas Prabhu of Ovali ye village succumbed to a suspected heart attack while being rushed to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim. Her family alleges that vital time was lost be cause there is no motor able road leading to their home, forcing emergency responders and relatives to carry her a significant distance before she could reach the 108 ambu lance, a delay they believe proved fatal. When contacted, the deceased woman’s 28-year-old son, Par shuram Prabhu, appealed to the government to provide proper road con nectivity to his residence without directly blaming any authorities. “In my family, three senior citizens currently live in the same house— my father (65), my grandmother (85), and my father’s uncle (82). I request the government to ensure they do not suf fer the same fate as my mother during any medi cal emergency due to the absence of a proper road,” said Parshuram Prabhu. The Prabhu family stat ed that their house has existed at the location since 1932.
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Over the last nine decades, most villagers relocated from the elevated terrain to the plains below, but the Prabhu family continued to reside at the original site, which re mains inaccessible by road. When contacted, Honda sarpanch Shivdas Madkar told O Heraldo that Ovaliye falls under his jurisdiction and that efforts were made in 2023 to provide road connectivity. “We proposed an alternative access road within 100 metres and passed a resolution in the panchayat meeting, which was forwarded to the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) for approval. However, the family later dropped the proposal, insisting on a direct route through their private plantation,” he said. He said that the panchayat record indicates that the ini tiative to build a road by this panchayat was also taken in 2002 but this project remained incomplete. Madkar added that the panchayat had also explored constructing the road through Grant-in-Aid (GIA) funds in 2023, but the project could not proceed due to a lack of funds. The sarpanch noted that an old access road exists in survey records up to a now-defunct government primary school building near the Prabhu residence. The school, however, was shifted decades ago to a more accessible lo cation in the village. Following the incident, the sarpanch, along with Public Works Department (PWD) officials, visited the site. “We inspected the area, particularly a nullah that needs to be crossed to establish a motorable road. The PWD has shown interest and assured that necessary steps will be taken to complete the project at the earliest,” Madkar add ed. The villagers confirmed that the house has remained without motorable access for decades. While a tarred road connects Pissurlem to Ovaliye, it still does not extend to the Prabhu residence.
Meanwhile, on April 4, a video went viral showing 108 ambulance personnel trekking nearly two km across steep, uneven terrain, carrying the woman on a stretcher to reach medical help. The visuals drew admiration across the State, with many hailing the team’s dedication as a shining exam ple of service against all odds. But within just two days of the viral video another video surfaced on social media and the hope turned into heart break. A second video surfaced this time of her son, Par shuram his voice heavy with grief, announcing that his mother was no more. In the video the distraught son, Parshuram, emotionally claimed that while India has reached the moon in the 21st century, a road was yet to reach his village.
