27 August 2024 07:36 am Views - 45
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Two bulls carrying goods |
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A patient being carried by two men |
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Farmer carrying his produce |
By Palitha Ariyawansa-Badulla
In an era where the transport sector has made giant gallops in modernization, the residents of some villages in the Wiyaluwa electorate of the Badulla District, particularly those in Angoda, Kotikarawa, Ketakella, and Nagollagama, are enduring significant hardships due to the lack of basic infrastructure, especially in terms of road access.
In an era when people talk about expressways and high speed rail, farmers in these villages use pack bulls to transport their agricultural produce. People belonging to 180 families have to traverse eight kilometres to attend to their basic needs.
The roads in these areas are so deteriorated that they are unusable even for traditional bullock carts, forcing villagers to undertake an arduous eight-mile trek through difficult jungle terrain to reach Soranathota Town.
This situation is especially challenging for vulnerable groups such as schoolchildren, patients, expectant mothers, and those requiring urgent medical attention. In severe cases, the ill are carried on makeshift palanquins for the eight-mile journey to the nearest road, from where they can be transported to the Badulla Teaching Hospital, some 20 kilometres away.
Additionally, when someone passes away in a hospital, their body must be brought back to the village on foot, adding to the emotional and physical toll on the community.
Farmers are also severely impacted, as they are forced to rely on pack bulls to transport their produce from their paddy fields and Chena cultivations due to the lack of motorable roads. Despite their persistent appeals to successive governments over the past 55 years, their pleas have been largely ignored, leaving these communities in a continuous state of neglect.