After their repeated requests to the municipal corporation fell on deaf ears, a group of 20 transgender folks in Gorakhpur accumulated their earnings to get a concrete road built in their locality.
When their repeated requests had no takers in the municipal corporation, a group of individuals from the transgender community decided to act on their own and pooled money to get a concrete road constructed in their locality.
The group of 20, who reside in the Jangal Mata Deen locality of Gorakhpur, accumulated all their earnings that they had received through dancing and blessing newborn babies and newlywed brides, and used it for the construction of the road.
According to Rameshwari, who is a member of the group, the state of the road had become so pathetic that it became difficult to even walk.
“Before the road was constructed, it was a nightmare to tread on it during the rains,” she told HT.
She also said that they requested the municipal corporation repeatedly to get the road repaired, but all their efforts were to no avail. Hence, they had taken the decision of doing something on their own.
“All of us started saving a part of our daily income and kept it with our guru. Within a year, sufficient amount of money was collected for the 120 m-long road,” she added.
After collecting ₹1 lakh, the road construction work commenced in May, and within a period of a month, the work was completed.
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“A concrete road was needed in the area. The transgender folks hired labourers, arranged building material and even roped in a private engineer for the construction of the road. This proves that where there is a will, there is a way”, said Anirudhdh Kumar, who is a shopkeeper in the locality.
According to a Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation (GMC) engineer, who wished to remain anonymous, the construction of the same road would have cost around ₹ 4 lakh if the municipal corporation had undertaken the work.
Fortunately, the initiative taken up by the group hasn’t gone unnoticed. In fact, Satya Pandey, who is the mayor of the city, spoke to HT about the developments and shared his grievances about having missed the shortcomings of the Jangal Mata Deen locality. “I will ask the municipal commissioner and other authorities to look into their grievances and solve them on a priority basis”, he said.
Featured image inset source: Hindustan Times.
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