Deprived of ambulances, charpoy and boats are the only means of transport during a medical emergency

Parsval village in the Barabanki region has access to none. Boat is the only means of transport in this deprived village. Locals have to row to the hospitals in an emergency, 9 kms from the village.

"If somebody gets ill at night, we have to wait for the next morning to reach for the hospital. We cannot do anything even if the sick dies during this interval. In the next morning, we carry the sick on a charpoy or a bicycle to the river. We then rowthe boat to the hospital," says Lalmati Devi, local resident of Parsval village, Barabanki.

Parsval village, 95 kms from Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh, is an out-of-the-way village. Boats are the only means of transportation. The village's geographical area is about nine square kilometers, enclosed between the two rivers. The villagers have to cross the river for everyday needs. The closest road connection is about nine kilometers away.

Parsval village is located along the bank of the River Ghagra. It is deprived of basic services like toilets, hospitals, schools, and roads network. Village kids a7re deprived of education. Besides, villagers have to travel to Tikaitnagar, nine kilometers from the village for the hospital services. Instead of an ambulance, the needy are subjected to cross the river in a boat in poor health.

"I do not remember clearly but it was the rainy season. It was raining in the late afternoon. My son was suffering with high temperatures. The river was overflowing at an alarming rate. We were vulnerable to the overflow. The hospital is at Tikait nagar, nine kilometers from our village. I kept on waiting for the next morning. But, my son passed away before the morning. I was helpless, I couldn't do anything for my dying child," lamented Lalmati. Like Lalmati, there are dozens of women who curse their fate for losing their children.

These villagers are prone to everyday needs. "Every year, our house gets demolished in floods. When the river gets flooded, we have to leave our village. We then move to the river's embankment. We live there for over three months. I cannot explain the intensity of our everyday hardships. Forget about clean water, we do not get even drinkable water. We are prone to drink river's dirty water. Every now and then, our children get sick due to the unclean water. But we are helpless, we have no other choice," mourns Narendra Kumar, 30, the village local.

It is challenging to deal with the flood conditions. The villagers are vulnerable to run off from their villages during the overflow.Farmers and their families are struggling for fodder and water. We talked to a 25-year-old village girl, Rajni. Her parent's home is at parsval village while her in-law's home is at Jarval, Gonda. She talks about her challenging days in parsval. She says, "Bhaiya, I had spent a very complex childhood. I remember. My amma-babuji took me and my sisters to the river's embankment during the flood. We had to spend two months under the shelter of a plastic sheet. We neither had water to drink nor food to eat."

She added, "We would pray to the god that we do not get sickened during the rainy season. Else, the sick would die on the way to the hospital."

"Our village has nothing. Every day is a struggle. We have to travel to Tikaitnagar, nine kilometers from our village to buy our basic amenities. We walk six kilometers, and then we wait for hours in search for a boat. Subsequently, we reach to the bazaar. But, it gets very disturbing when somebody gets sick. Be it the needy are a pregnant woman or the sick, we have to carry him/her on a charpoy to the hospital. We would travel kilometers on the narrow trails to the river, then we would cross the river on a boat to reach for the hospital," says Sukhram, 60-year-old, the village local.

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