More than 4,000 villagers of remote Kangku circle in Lower Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh are now closer to their dream of a having a proper road — for the first time since Independence.

The state’s rural works department has finally sanctioned a project to pave a 65km road from Likabali, 170km from here, to Kangku circle under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, following concerted efforts by the locals, particularly the No Road No Vote Central Committee formed by them and some frontal organisations of the Galo community.

Residents alleged that no effort was made in the past seven decades to build a motorable road in the circle, which has 24 notified villages.

To push for their demand, the voters of the area boycotted the byelection to 28 Likabali Assembly constituency in December 2017 and not a single vote was cast in five of the nine polling stations under the constituency. The seat had fallen vacant following the death of health and family welfare minister Jomde Kena in September 4, 2017.

The residents also threatened to launch a civil-disobedience movement by surrendering their voter-identity cards if their demand was not met. Subsequently, chief minister Pema Khandu assured them of looking into their grievances.

The coordinator of No Road No Vote Central Committee, Mikjom Taso, said, “This is a dream come true for people of the circle who have suffered a lot because of lack of proper roads. Lack of connectivity has made our lives difficult and there is no development in our area. We rely on roads in Assam to reach our villages. The situation worsens during medical emergency or inter-state disputes.”

He said hardly any administrative officer visits the area because of the deplorable condition of roads.

A local resident said, “There are 24 villages in Kangku circle and most of the locals belong to a single community but few have met each other for want of a road. We have more friends in Assam than in our community as we travel through their roads on a regular basis for our work.”

Taso, on behalf of the No Road No Vote Central Committee, thanked local MLA Kardo Nyikyor, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, Khandu and the Centre for sanctioning construction of the road.

“We are hopeful that construction will start soon. The villagers are ready to extend all possible cooperation to the executing agency. We hope to see a new dawn in our lives with the road, which has so far remained a dream,” he said.

Administrative approval and technical sanction for the road, however, are pending.