Konika Paik was worried about the situation of the poor road condition of her village. As a local U3 volunteer for the Orgram hamlet, Konika says, “The kaccha road became a problem for us, due to bad road we fail to catch the trains, and children fall in the potholes. We applied for road repair in Gram Panchayat but due to a lesser number of households and 100 days’ work limitation under MGNREGA, it was not allocated. So, we came together and solve the problem. All the households took an effort to repair it & thank Uttoran Community Educator to guide us and inspire us leading to community-led action.

Orgram, a tribal hamlet in Burdwan district of West Bengal with a population of around 13554 is dependent on agricultural farming for their survival. Orgram connection to the outer world is only through the Noadar Dhal railway station. However, the connecting road in-between is a kaccha narrow road covered with weeds & potholes which makes it difficult to commute for the villagers, especially during monsoon season. It becomes a problem for two-wheelers, cycles, and E-rickshaws movement. The station is the easiest & cheapest way to the nearest marketplace at Guskara to sell agri products, purchase basic things, and access medical support at Burdwan. The connecting road holds importance for students to reach their school. As the road is amid agricultural land it is quite impossible to make wide the road.

The village is one of the program areas under the Uttoran (U3) program. For the last 4-year Caritas India with the support of Misereor is implementing Uttoran, a cluster program on community empowerment, leading to good governance, agriculture, livelihood, and food sovereignty. As a partner organization, Asansol Burdwan Seva Kendra, works in 15 villages including Orgram under the Sahebgunj 2 GP. During the second phase, the community realized the need for Community-Based Organization (CBO) for village development. In the current phase, the emphasis is on strengthening community groups that will look after the village’s development. Radhagobinda SHG is one of the CBO in Surakhanpara established in 2022 under Uttoran programme to generate linkage with Govt office & GP, IGP (veg cultivation, bori making & livestock), resource generation and organize meetings in village. The SHG, led by Konika Paik & Archana Biswas, observed the poor condition of the Kaccha narrow road which connects their hamlet with Noadar Dhal station approx length 1km.

During Uttoran program meeting on community issues, the problem was pointed out by the SHG. They proposed a collective action to work together and conducted a planning meeting to distribute the responsibilities among themselves. Within no time, they mobilized local resources – tools like spade, basket etc. and 12 motivated men and women to complete the work. They filled the potholes and leveled the uneven places. This collective action now saves their time and makes life easier. The villagers have now better marketability of their products as the raw vegetable are fresh and get better pricing in morning market.

With the repaired road, now the e-rickshaw comes to the hamlet to carry the elderly persons and ill persons to the station and bus stop & the children roam this road happily. The students ride their bicycles and reach the school on time. Besides the effort of road making established Community ownership of the community resource through co-creation, co-governance, co-management, or co-ownership, and co-care. The sense of ownership is now seen not only among the elders but also among the children, whose parents repaired the road, and it results in good community resource management. The community understands the Gandhian philosophy ‘self-help is the best help.’ The group members are confident as their call awakes the community and planning to do some other community-led action for a better tomorrow.

Community-Led Action builds on a strong foundation of awareness and collective power can make a positive change. The community appreciates Caritas India for promoting leadership among them to take up community actions.