India is a land of mountain men, it seems. In March, we shared with you an inspiring story of an Indian man, Dashrath Manjhi, who broke a mountain with a hammer and chisel to make a road, a venture which took him 30 years to complete. Recently, based on his life, the Indian film industry released a film titled Manjhi – The Mountain Man. Now comes the story of another ‘Mountain Man’, a former village teacher, who took on the task of cutting hills to build roads. Rajaram Bhapkar, the 84-year-old man from the Indian state of Maharashtra, has cut through seven hills in the last 57 years to make 40-km roads.
Bhapkar and others from Gundegaon had to cross three villages to reach Kolegaon, where he had taught in a government school between the years of 1957 and 1991. “At the time of [India’s] Independence, there was not even a ‘paywat’ (walking trail) connecting Gundegaon [his village] to the adjoining village [Kolegaon],” he said.
His repeated requests to government authorities to build a road cutting across the 700 meter high Santosha hill, fell on deaf ears. With no help forthcoming, he embarked on a journey of grit and determination, which 57 years later would result in seven roads, altogether 40-kilometer long, linking his village to the adjoining villages.
“I used to spend half my salary on their [those who helped him construct the road] wages. The government has not spent a single Rupee on the road work,” he said. Bhapkar exhausted his entire post retirement earnings and pension to fund the cause. Besides working with a spade and a shovel, he also hired heavy duty excavator machines for expediting the mission.
“In 1968, not even a cycle could pass through the earlier walking trail. Now, big vehicles ply on this road,” a villager added.
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