NEW DELHI — Frustrated villagers in northeast India have grabbed spades and axes and started building their own road to the local town -- after 20 years of government delays, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
About 750 residents from seven villages are working on the 25 kilometre (15 mile) route to connect them to Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, reported the Hindustan Times.
"Last month, we decided that we had waited long enough," Tyllilang Mukhim, a village elder from Nonglatem, told the newspaper, which published pictures of dozens of women preparing the rough ground using basic hand tools.
"Almost all of us grow a variety of vegetables, rice, ginger... and it is not possible to take them to the market before they rot," Mukhim said.
The villagers plan to finish the job -- first started by the state government in 1989 -- within 25 days. State government officials blamed lack of funds for their failure to complete the project.