We Have a New Dashrath Manjhi: Odisha Man Builds Road Using a Pickaxe So Children to go to School

Jalandhar Nayak from Odisha has gone out of his way to make education accessible to his children. Working hard eight hours every day for two years he has constructed an 8-km long road using just a pickaxe and a hoe. The road now connects his village Gumsahi village Gumsahi with the main road in Phulbani town of Odisha’s Kandhamal district. Nayak did this so that his children could attend the school in town. We all admired Dashrath Manjhi 'the mountain man' for his efforts and Jalandhar Nayak is following his very steps.

45-year old Jalandhar Nayak is a vegetable seller. He has three sons who had to traverse for minimum 3 hours through the hills to reach their school. “My family’s pitiful condition drove me to construct the road and I pledge to carry on the work. I often saw them stumbling against the stones and I decided to carve a road through the mountain so that they can walk freely,” said Nayak to ANI. He also could not see the pitiful condition of patients who had a tough time to reach the hospital in the town-side. Nayak started every morning using just his hand tools to cut the rocks and form a path. He was working for two years and now his efforts are being realized. The local officials have now promised to complete the road. They will also pay him for his efforts yet.

The video below shows about Jalandhar Nayak and his painstaking efforts for his children.

Jalandhar personally never had the privilege to take education but he was very keen that his children get the necessary education. He now hopes that his children can come back home often on weekends or on holidays. The area where Jalandhar lives is almost inhabitable. Most of the people have shifted because of the difficult terrain. After getting the support from the local authorities, he has also asked to provide his village electricity and drinking water.

Jalandhar Nayak’s hard work has been rightly compared to Dashrath Manjhi, the man who had carved a mountain to make a road. Nayak was doing his task from 2 years and the local officials only found out about it just a month back.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2018 11:22 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).