Bihar's Mountain Man - Dashrath Manjhi

                    


Dashrath Manjhi (1934-August 18, 2007) was born into a poor labourer family in Gahlour village near Gaya in Bihar, India. Dashrath Manjhi was also known as Mountain Man.
Dashrath Manjhi's claim to fame has been the herculean task of single-handedly carving a 360-foot-long (110 m), 25-foot-high (7.6 m) and 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) road by cutting a mountain of Gehlour hills with a hammer, chisel and nails working day and night for 22 years from 1960 to 1982 This passage reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district from 70 km to just 7 km, bringing him international acclaim. He died on August 18, 2007 at the age of 80 years. He was given a state burial by the Government of Bihar^.

In July 2010, Director Manish Jha announced a film, Manjhi, based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi. The film is produced by Sanjay Singh, who previously produced Udaan (2010) and Manoj Bajpai is slated to play the lead.

 Bihar’s mountain man Dasrath Manjhi  died  at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Manjhi, who single-handedly carved out a passage through a mountain near his village in Gaya district, was suffering from jaundice and suspected cancer.
The Nitish Kumar Government announced a state funeral for Manjhi who hailed from the Dalit Musahar caste—regarded as a social outcast. In the last week of July, the state Government had rushed him in a critical condition to AIIMS and promised to bear his medical expenses. Kumar had even met him recently and inquired about his treatment following complaints that the money from the state Government was coming in slow installments. Sanjay Kumar, who had accompanied Manjhi, confirmed his death over phone and said his body would reach Gaya on Saturday.
Unfortunately Manjhi died before his dream mountain passage could be turned into a metalled road. He had struggled for several years for the road before the Nitish Kumar Government declared that it would complete the road and got the foundation stone laid by him.
Manjhi had started the daunting project of single-handedly cutting a passage through the mountain way back in 1967 and worked on it for around 22 years and carved out a 360-feet-long and 30-feet-wide road. Initially he was termed as a mad man but when he completed the gigantic task he was termed “superhuman”. After carving out the passage in 1988, Manjhi ran from pillar to post to get it transformed into a metalled road but his dream remained unrealised.