In Maharashtra CM's 'adopted' village, woman delivers baby on dirt road miles away from nearest hospital

A tribal woman from Patikacha Pada village in Thane district had to be carried on a makeshift stretcher on Sunday morning after she went into labour as her village lacks proper roads even after 75 years of Independence. She delivered the baby in transit on the side of the dirt road.

Thane (Maharashtra): Amid all the talk of development and rapid connectivity in the country, a village in Maharashtra's Thane district, in which falls Kopri-Pachpakhadi, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's constituency, lacks proper roads so much so that a pregnant woman had to deliver her baby in the open while she was being carried to the nearest healthcare centre.

The tribal woman from Patikacha Pada village had to be carried on a makeshift stretcher on Sunday after she went into labour as her village lacks proper roads even after 75 years of Independence.

The woman was rushed to the nearest Public Healthcare Centre by her family and some locals who were accompanied by an ASHA worker. She had to be lifted on a piece of cloth hung over a wooden pole as the people carrying her crossed streams and walked through rough terrain to reach the nearest healthcare facility, four and a half kilometres away from her home.

She, however, delivered the baby in transit in Shahapur taluka of the district. "Luckily, an ASHA worker accompanied us and helped in the smooth delivery," a villager accompanying the woman said. "She went into labour at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. We then took her in a makeshift stretcher and started walking but on the way she delivered the baby. We had to walk around 4 km when a jeep came and helped us reach the hospital. The mother and the baby are safe and stable," the ASHA worker said.

Locals claim their village was adopted by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde when he was the "guardian minister" of Thane district. "Even after 75 years of independence, many villages in Shahapur taluka of Chief Minister's district still do not get basic facilities like roads, electricity, water and health. Even today we have to walk to the hospital due to the lack of roads," said another villager.

"Sometimes even lives have to be lost due to not getting healthcare in time. Despite getting crores of rupees from the state government, this area is still far from development," the villager said. He along with other villagers demanded that the people's representatives along with the state government should pay immediate attention to ensure such basic facilities.