Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 19, 2007
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/211001.html
Introduction: The Nitish Kumar Government
announced a state funeral for Manjhi who hailed from the Dalit Musahar caste
Bihar's mountain man Dasrath Manjhi (77) died
on Friday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Manjhi,
who single-handedly carved out a passage through a mountain near his village
in Gaya district, was suffering from jaundice and suspected cancer.
The Nitish Kumar Government announced a state
funeral for Manjhi who hailed from the Dalit Musahar caste-regarded as a social
outcast. In the last week of July, the state Government had rushed him in
a critical condition to AIIMS and promised to bear his medical expenses. Kumar
had even met him recently and inquired about his treatment following complaints
that the money from the state Government was coming in slow installments.
Sanjay Kumar, who had accompanied Manjhi, confirmed his death over phone and
said his body would reach Gaya on Saturday.
Unfortunately Manjhi died before his dream
mountain passage could be turned into a metalled road. He had struggled for
several years for the road before the Nitish Kumar Government declared that
it would complete the road and got the foundation stone laid by him.
Manjhi had started the daunting project of
single-handedly cutting a passage through the mountain way back in 1967 and
worked on it for around 22 years and carved out a 360-feet-long and 30-feet-wide
road. Initially he was termed as a mad man but when he completed the gigantic
task he was termed "superhuman". After carving out the passage in
1988, Manjhi ran from pillar to post to get it transformed into a metalled
road but his dream remained unrealised.
The inspiration to carve a passage through
the mountain came to Manjhi after his wife was seriously injured while carrying
water across the mountain and he had to go around the hills to reach the nearest
hospital. His passage had reduced the 50 km distance between Atri and Wazirganj
subdivisions to just 10 km.
In his later years he turned a "Kabirpanthi"
and worked to rid the musahar community of its obsession with liquor.
