Pilibhit: : A six-year-old girl’s video appeal to the Lakhimpur Kheri district magistrate to repair the waterlogged road outside her house prompted the administration to visit Salempur Kon village and begin repair work on the damaged brick stretch on Wednesday, officials said.Manavi Singh, a Class 1 student from Salempur Kon village on the outskirts of Lakhimpur city, posted a short video on social media in which she addressed the district magistrate directly while walking through a waterlogged and uneven brick road near her home. “DM uncle, you are very good… please get the road by my house repaired,” she said in the clip, which soon circulated widely and reached district magistrate Anjani Kumar Singh.Singh visited the village with a team of officials after seeing the video, met Manavi and her family, and assured them that repair work would be taken up promptly. He also spent time with the girl and offered her biscuits and sweets during the visit.The 11 feet-wide brick road, which runs for 450 meters past Manavi’s house, was constructed in 2023 but later got damaged because of waterlogging and the movement of tractor-trolleys carrying construction material, said Rakesh Verma, husband of Salempur village head Viddottama Verma. “Field owners on both sides of the pavement sold their land after dividing it into residential plots, but no space was left for drainage. The waterlogging, along with frequent movement of heavy tractor-trolleys carrying construction material, damaged the road surface,” he said, adding that Manavi’s family had built its house there four years ago.Chief development officer (CDO), Lakhimpur Kheri, Abhishek Kumar told TOI that the village panchayat started repair work on the damaged portions of the brick road on Wednesday on the district magistrate’s directions. “The work has begun on a war footing. Directions have also been given to village panchayat to ensure an efficient drainage system so that the road remains protected from waterlogging, especially during the coming monsoon,” Kumar said.
