A video allegedly showing a pregnant woman being taken to a hospital on a bullock cart in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district was shared by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday.
In a post on social media platform X, Yadav criticised the BJP government in UP, while accusing them of “turning ambulances into bullock carts.”
“Under the BJP's misrule, ambulances in Uttar Pradesh have turned into 'bull-ances'. Will a trillion-dollar economy run on bullock carts?” Yadav questioned.
He further said that when UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath goes out to inspect crops, he “should look at the condition of roads and ambulances.” “If he can't see them, he should make good use of Delhi's binoculars or drones,” Yadav added.
The video shows a woman sitting in a bullock cart, which is travelling through a muddy, waterlogged, and unpaved road. The cart was used to transport the pregnant woman after an ambulance reportedly failed to reach her village, PTI reported.
{{/usCountry}}The video shows a woman sitting in a bullock cart, which is travelling through a muddy, waterlogged, and unpaved road. The cart was used to transport the pregnant woman after an ambulance reportedly failed to reach her village, PTI reported.
{{/usCountry}}Yadav further urged the UP health minister to “make his presence felt in the difficulties of the sick people”, adding that the post was not “limited to a nameplate.”
Woman taken to govt CHC three hours away
The pregnant woman, who lives in the Parsadwa Dera Gau Ghat Chhani village, was taken to the Sisolor Community Health Centre, which was seven kilometres away from her home, according to PTI.
Her 60-year-old father-in-law, Krishna Kumar Kevat, was taken in a cart after an ambulance, which was called, got stuck due to the muddy, unpaved road.
The journey through the muddy track took three hours. Upon reaching the CHC, the doctors completed her primary treatment and discharged her, saying the delivery was still two days away, the PTI report said.
Village locals reported that residents frequently face such hardships during the rains, with roads turning into muddy swamps that isolate them from nearby towns.
A social worker, Arun Nishad, told PTI that residents have no option but to carry patients on their shoulders or on bullock carts in emergency cases. Nishad said that the villagers had held a six-day protest in March last year, demanding a proper road.
Arun Kumar, Chief Development Officer of Parsadwa, stated that the panchayat had filled the track with mud to lay a cement road. However, the CDO said that it was damaged owing to the rain. “Laying a concrete path will begin after the route dries up,” Kumar said.