But those city-bred holidayers, who are accustomed to Lonavala or Khandala, Matheran or Mahabaleshwar nearer to larger cities like Mumbai and Pune are well in for a surprise as Melghat swings into limelight as a virgin tourist spot ever since the Melghat Development Programme (MDP) has helped connect the inaccessible villages in the interiors of the district.

Along with surefire adventures like traversing through the hilly terrain and thick forests spread over 3000 sq km of the total area of 4000 sq km, a breathtakingly beautiful hill station of Chikaldara and the project tiger sanctuary at Semadoh awaits these travel enthusiasts with a tremendous capacity to zoom the popularity charts within no no time.

The hilly terrain and thick forest cover were the main hurdles in the developmentalprogramme as the forest conservation act posed several restrictions on alignment of roads, but the work is in progress without violating the act, said N A Merchant, chief engineer of Public Works Department, who accompanied a group of reporters on a tour to parts of the tribal village recently.

Even as it has not been possible to provide full connectivity to the villages as they are situated in the deep interiors of the forest, the Public Works Department has been trying to implement its road development plan for providing connectivity to all villages. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, had declared in 1996 a special programme of providing connectivity to all villages by all weather roads to be implemented by May 1998, work in the project is still on and so far more than 70 villages have been connected.

Thus in all, 34 villages which are scattered all over the area are required to be provided with all weather roads. About 34 villages were situated in thick jungles and it was declared that the roads could notbe built at the start of MDP in 1996. But in the last one and half year, roads have been constructed in 31 villages while three villages Chetor, Bhawar and Tembru are awaiting clearances. Merchant said that limiting the construction of road width in the space available, bringing all the construction material including soil, required for road work from outside the forest area were among the difficulties encountered while executing the project. Due to the flooding and standing water in rivers, nallas, no work was possible during monsoon, leaving only six to seven months of working period in a year, he added.

The rate of child deaths in Melghat is still quite high as 73.76 per cent in 1996 and in 1997-98 it was 53.36 per cent. One of the reasons for such high incidents of child deaths is the non-availability of medical facilities due to inadequate facilities of communication. Many locals express hope that with all weather roads, basic amenities would be within the easy reach. Though they are happy with theroads, they have been deprived of electricity and water supply.

For instance a tiny hamlet of Hattighat, with a population of about 300 people, is situated atop a hilly terrain remains inaccessible to the main land almost throughout the year. But with the few roads being constructed, life is more easier for the locals. The zilla parishad runs a primary school with attendance of about 47-50 students. The Central government runs mid-day meal scheme and about 5-6 students go to the nearby town of Achalpur of Paratwada for higher education. The children stay in ashram schools and the rural women have to bear most of the burden, whether carrying wood, to keep the kitchen fire burning and water from far off places. But the roads being built are proving to be a great boon to these women who can now walk on properly constructed roads.

The added advantage of implementation of this programme is, the local labourers get employment on these construction works. The picturesque hill station of Chikaldara and the tigersanctuary is an added attraction of the other side of Melghat. With the constructions of roads, it is hoped that more tourists would flock towards Melghat.