Story:

A man in India carved a 360 ft road through a mountain after his wife died because medical attention could not be brought to her in time and he did not want he did not want anyone else to suffer the same fate as his wife.

Analysis:

The message claims that an Indian man named Dashrath Manjhi has carved a 360 ft road through a mountain after his wife Falguni Devi died because of lack of timely medical attention while traveling around the mountain. The story is a fact.

The Indian man in question, Dashrath Manjhi was born in 1934, to a poor labourer family of Gahlour village near Gaya, Bihar. In 1967, Dashrath Majhi’s wife, Falguni Devi was injured and needed immediate medical attention. But unfortunately, the nearest town with a doctor was located 70 km away, as he had to travel around the Gehlour mountain hills; and as a result, his wife died due to lack of timely medical treatment. Dashrath was taken aback with the loss of his wife in this way. He realized that his village was situated in the lap of rocky hills and because of this the villagers would often face lot of trouble crossing the small distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town. Dashrath Manjhi did not want anyone else to suffer the fate of his wife, so the old man started something no one could think of.

In memory of his wife, Dashrath wanted to break down the hill and create a road path to make it easier for villagers to travel to the town. He took a hammer, chisel and nails and started hammering the hill, working day and night for almost 22 years. People considered him mad, but he still continued with his exemplary efforts and carved out a 360 feet long, 30 feet high and 25 feet wide passage through the Gehlour hills, which reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj from 55 km to 15 km. Some reports wrongly suggested that Dashrath reduced 70 km distance between Atri and Wazirganj to just 1 km. Dashrath finished this epic project in 1988 and this rare achievement brought him international acclaim. Further, he went on to meet the Bihar state administration officials, requesting them to construct a metalled road through the mountain.

For his glorious feat, this Bihari old man Dashrath Manjhi became popularly known as the ‘Mountain Man’, but unfortunately, he died on August 17, 2007 at the age of 80, while suffering from gall bladder cancer in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The mountain man was given a state funeral by the Government of Bihar. Later, Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar proposed to build a three-kilometre-long metalled road from Gahlaur to Amethi, naming the project as Dasrath Manjhi Road. A hospital in his name is also proposed, for serving the villagers. Noted filmmaker Ketan Mehta portrayed this mountain man Dashrath Manjhi as the poor man’s Shah Jahan. The Bihar government also proposed Dashrath Manjhi’s name for the Padma Shree award in 2006 in social service sector.

This is no doubt an inspiring, herculean achievement of the mountain man, both on personal and social front.

Hoax or Fact:

Fact.

References:

Mountain Man – Dashrath Manjhi

Mountain man made way for progress