Rewa, July 6 (IANS) A tribal woman died after her family members were forced to carry her on a cot for nearly two kilometres to reach a hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district after no ambulance could reach her village due to the absence of a motorable road.

The incident has also revived allegations of irregularities in the road’s construction.

The incident occurred on Sunday evening in Nadna (Dihiya) Gram Panchayat, under the Mangawan Assembly constituency. Ramkali Rawat, wife of the late Ram Swayamvar Rawat, was struck by lightning, villagers said.

As there was no proper road connecting the village, an ambulance could not reach the spot. Family members and villagers carried her on a khatia (traditional cot) for nearly two kilometres through a muddy track in an attempt to take her to the hospital. However, she died before receiving treatment.

A video of the incident has also surfaced.

Speaking to IANS on Monday, Pushpendra Tiwari, a resident of Dihiya village, said, “No ambulance could reach the village because of the road. We had to carry the woman on a khatia for about 1 to 2 kilometres. Soil had been dumped on the road, but there was very little murram. The road was in such poor condition that even walking was difficult.”

The incident has once again drawn attention to the incomplete road connecting the villages of Dihiya and Nadna. Residents said they have repeatedly approached the authorities over the last four years, demanding completion of the road and action over alleged irregularities in the work.

Mangawan MLA Narendra Prajapati, however, told IANS that he had sanctioned funds from his MLA fund for the road project. He said Rs 4 lakh was sanctioned for one village and Rs 2 lakh for Dihiya Gram Panchayat.

According to him, nearly 70 per cent of the sanctioned amount had been released, but the remaining work could not be completed due to a shortage of funds.

Tiwari, however, said around 200 families of Dihiya and Nadna villages have been affected by the incomplete road, while nearly 40 to 45 families are directly dependent on it.

“This is the second such incident in the last five years. During the COVID-19 pandemic too, a woman had to be carried on a cot because no vehicle could reach the village, and she also died,” he said.

A memorandum submitted by villagers to the Rewa District Collector on August 12, 2025, a copy of which is available with IANS, alleged that only six truckloads of murram were laid on the road, while the remaining funds were misappropriated. The allegations have not been officially verified.

The incident has also triggered a political reaction. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Arun Yadav alleged that the incident exposed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s claims of “double-engine development”.

He said a tribal woman had to be taken to hospital on a cot because there was no proper road or ambulance access, and questioned who should be held responsible when the lack of basic infrastructure leads to the loss of a life.

The incident has once again highlighted the poor road connectivity and lack of emergency medical access in remote villages of Madhya Pradesh. Villagers have demanded an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the road construction work and action against those responsible. The district administration had issued no official statement at the time of filing this report.

–IANS

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