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.