MUMBAI, July 31 -- Twelve years after Palghar was carved out as Maharashtra's newest district with promises of becoming a "modern district" and a "model town", residents of its remote tribal hamlets continue to struggle for even the most basic infrastructure. A distressing incident in Dongripada village in Dahanu taluka on Wednesday exposes lack of healthcare access in the district's tribal belt. Villagers were forced to carry a critically injured man for more than a kilometre in a makeshift doli (palanquin) because an ambulance could not reach the settlement due to the absence of a motorable road. Karan Desak, a resident of Dongripada, fell from a tree on Wednesday morning and sustained serious injuries. According to villagers, he remained unconscious for some time after the fall. Although the approach road to Dongripada in Chandwad had been partially gravelled, construction of a crucial culvert on the route has remained incomplete for the past three years, making the hamlet inaccessible to emergency vehicles. Dinesh Shingada, Desak's neighbour, said the ambulance was forced to stop far from the settlement. "We ultimately placed the injured man in a makeshift doli and carried him on our shoulders for over one kilometre to the main road. From there, we hailed a tempo and took him to Dahanu Cottage Hospital," said Shingada, a resident of Dongripada. As Desak's injuries were severe, he was later referred to Vedanta Hospital for further treatment. He is currently stated to be stable. Villagers said Desak survived because he was spotted in time and rushed to hospital. They pointed out, however, that similar incidents have repeatedly occurred across Palghar's tribal regions, including Vikramgad, Wada, Jawhar and Mokhada, where patients have often been transported on makeshift stretchers or slings due to the absence of roads, bridges and nearby healthcare facilities. Wednesday's incident has once again brought the administration's attention to a long-standing problem that residents say has remained unresolved despite years of appeals. For the past three years, villagers from Raytali-Chandwad have been demanding completion of the culvert over a stream, which they say is essential to connect the kachha road to Dongripada and neighbouring hamlets. Residents said two patients had earlier been transported in a similar manner, while one person died four years ago after failing to receive timely medical assistance. Sudhir Umbarsda, a local resident, said repeated representations to authorities had yielded no results. "Despite submitting written applications and complaints to the Gram Panchayat more than ten times, the work remains unfinished. The fact that patients, the elderly, students and pregnant women are forced to travel at great personal risk due to the absence of this culvert highlights the urgent need for remedial measures," he said. Shingada warned that villagers would intensify their agitation if the long-pending work was not completed. "A death occurred in a similar incident previously. In the recent incident, we faced immense difficulties in transporting the patient to the hospital. We have been demanding the construction of the culvert for three years."...