In the 21st century where people move around in their high classis rides, residents of four villages in the corner of South West Khasi Hills district are rowing makeshift bamboo boats in summer and ride four-wheel trucks in winter.
Thadteja and its surrounding villages of Pormawdar, Nirang and Armarsang are villages which have not been touched by the fine lines of basic necessities.
These villages are situated 60 km away from the Ranikor C&RD Block with no sign of development. Transportation facility is nil and there is no proper road or any convenient way to reach the village. Presently, people have no choice but to cross the Wahblei on makeshift bamboo boats, risking their lives when the water remains swollen during the summers.
Even the educational development in Thadteja is nearly negligible, health care facilities nil as people have to take patients to Maweit and Shahlang primary health centres in West Khasi Hills district, that too on foot for five hours.
“There is no road to our village. Except for a kutcha road which can be used only in winters and that too, only four-wheel trucks,” Secretary of the Village Water and Sanitation Committee in Thadteja, Chesterfield Rongrin told Highland Post.
He said with 25 households, Thadteja villagers earn their livelihood through farming. People grow broomsticks, oranges, pineapples, bananas, mangoes, jackfruits, areca nut and betel leaves but they are not being able to transport or sell them.
Rongrin said when the rains subside for three to four days in the summer people would carry them in bamboo boats.
It’s startling that the village doesn’t even have the electricity and mobile network connectivity. “Electricity we barely see and we neither do we have mobile phones,” Rongrin said.
Even the educational development in Thadteja is nearly negligible. He said children study in a village school and some have to go to Maweit, Shahlang, Nongstoiñ and Shillong.
With many constraints, including repeated rides on the bamboo boats residents wants the government to construct a bridge to address the maladies especially during emergencies and rainy season.
