From Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra comes the story of another ‘Mountain Man’, who like the more famous Dashrath Manjhi, took on the task of cutting hills to build roads.

The 84-year-old Rajaram Bhapkar, a former teacher at Gundegaon village in Ahmednagar district, has cut through seven hills in last 57 years to make 40-km roads and is a respected across the region for his feat.

Bhapkar, known affectionately as ‘Bhapkar Guruji’, looks a simple villager, clad in a white shirt and pajama and sporting a ‘Gandhi’ cap. However, beneath that simplicity lies a steely resolve, which moved the mountains, literally.

“At the time of Independence, there was not even a ‘paywat’ (walking trail) connecting Gundegaon to adjoining village,” Bhapkar, who has studied till seventh standard in Modi language, said.

When Bhapkar, who worked in zilla parishad school between 1957 to 1991, was working at Kolegaon, people from his villages had to cross three villages to reach there.

Bhapkar remembers asking government authorities to build a road cutting across the 700 meter high Santosha hill.

With no help forthcoming, he embarked on a journey of grit and determination, which 57 years later would result in seven roads, altogether 40km long, linking his village to the adjoining villages.

Earlier, the route to Kolegaon via Deulgaon was 29km long. The distance became just 10km after Bhapkar, through sheer grit, cut through the hill and made a kuchcha road.

He paid wages from his pocket to those who accompanied him in the road work.

“I used to spend half my salary on their wages,” Not a single rupee from the government has been spent on the road work,” he adds.

“In 1968 not even a cycle could pass through the earlier walking trail. Now, big vehicles ply on this road,” a villager said.

He completed the road in 1997.

Maharashtra government will conduct its cabinet meeting in Marathwada next month to discuss a long-term solution for the drought situation.

“We will conduct the state cabinet meeting in Marathwada in September and together we will discuss about a long-term solution for drought situation,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis chaired a meeting with ministers and senior officials in Aurangabad yesterday regarding drought mitigation measures in Marathwada.

This will be the first cabinet meeting outside Mumbai of the Fadnavis government. Previous governments had a practice of holding cabinet meetings in Aurangabad, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Mahabaleshwar to address the issues of the region.

Fadnavis said proper planning for supply of water and fodder in drought-affected Marathwada was done. Cattle and fodder camps are systematically planned. Fodder distribution will be done through hydroponic technique.

Describing the situation in Latur as grave, he said,” Water supply to Latur city will be done through railway wagon and water discharge from upper dam to lower dam was also planned.”

Collectors will hold ‘gram sabha’ in every village and inform the details of all the measures taken by the state government.

They will also ensure that food security and health care measures reach beneficiaries. NREGA work will be taken up at large scale which will help employment generation here.

“Water conservation, farm ponds and well work will be taken up for JalYuktShivar programme,” he said.

The water scarcity situation in Marathwada is said to be alarming, with Beed, Osmanabad and Latur districts being the worst-affected. The water storage in reservoirs in the region is only about eight per cent.

Mithi River Authority, which was set up after the July 26, 2005 deluge in Mumbai, under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, has not held a single meeting in the last five years, response to an RTI query has revealed.

RTI activist Anil Galgali said that he had sought information from the authority, which was set up to restore the Mithi river that was the reason behind the 2005 disaster, about the details of the meetings held by it since 2005.

The Deputy Planner and Public Information officer of the Authority, Shivraj Pawar informed Galgali that the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority was established on August 19, 2005, with the Chief Minister as its Chairman.

He informed that ever since the formation of the body, total of 6 meetings have been held.

While two meetings were held in 2005, one meeting each was held in the years 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. However, in the past five years (between 2011 and 2015), previous Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan and the current one-Devendra Fadnavis did not hold even a single meeting, Pawar told Galgali.

According to the activist, the Chief Secretary has been made the Chairman of the high-power committee of the Authority and the committee, too, has met 11 times since establishment.

Of the 11 meetings, one meeting each was held in the years 2005 and 2012, two meetings each were held in the years 2006 and 2008, and a maximum of five meetings were held in 2013 alone.

There have been no meetings of the high-powered committee under Chief Secretaries J Saharia and Swadheen Kshatriya.

On being questioned about how many meetings were mandatory in a year, Galgali was informed that no such rule is in the government resolution.

The length of the Mithi river is 17.8 kms, of which the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) looks after the development of 11.8 kms from Vihar Lake to CST bridge. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is responsible for developing the remaining six kms from CST bridge to Mahim causeway, including the Vakola nalla portion.

After the Mithi river disaster in 2005 the Maharashtra government formed the Authority and fixed the responsibility of cleaning and development work on the MMRDA and the MCGM.

“Rs. 1,200 crore have been spent on the development activities of the Mithi river till date and the work remains non-satisfactory,” Galgali alleged.