Exasperated with neglect from the government of India’s eastern state of Bihar, two remote villages on top of a hill have built a 4-kilometer-long road using the most basic tools, including hammers, chisels and trowels. Barwan Kala and Barwan Khurd, located in the forested Kaimur Hills, have a combined population of 3,000. most of whom are farmers.

“We are cursed,” says Chandrama Yadav, a local resident involved in the construction work in an exclusive to ENR. “Over 100 men between 30 and 60 years are not married in our village, and nobody wants to marry our daughters because of the sheer logistics of reaching us. Besides, whenever there is a medical emergency, we have to carry the patients on stretchers made of bamboo and blankets downhill, and often it’s too late.”