Ranchi: When Ashtam Oraon got selected in the Indian team for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, her native village Gumla, in Jharkhand, erupted in joy.
And when she was named captain of India’s first-ever women’s team taking part in a FIFA-level tournament, they were even more proud.
To honour her achievement, the district administration decided to build a 725-metre road leading to the humble home in the nondescript village in a Maoist-infected area.
And it’s her parents who are sweating it out with other daily wage labourers to construct the cement-concrete road at a cost of Rs 51 lakh, The Times of India reported.
Heeralal Oraon (47) and Tara Devi (45) told ToI that they were “proud” to do ‘mazdoori’ for 30 days on a project to acknowledge their daughter’s feat of becoming the first footballer from the state to lead an Indian team.
The poverty-ridden parents brought up their child the hard way, and Ashtam – a Class XI student at Hazaribag’s St Columbus Collegiate School – repaid their efforts by working hard and developing into a talented footballer.
Asked why they were working even after Ashtam became captain of the Indian team, her parents revealed that they still have to feed four other children and bring them up.
“Our forefathers worked as daily wage labourers and nothing has changed for us to switch to any other activity for livelihood. We still have to feed the rest of our children. So we cannot quit working till they achieve the goals of their lives,” said Ashtam’s father Heeralal.
Two of Ashtam’s sisters also play football and one of them took part in the Subrata Cup, a national-level school tournament.
The administration provided her parents with a TV set so that they could watch the World Cup matches.
“As we were told that the family would not be able to watch their daughter playing the World Cup matches and villagers also wanted to see her in action, we provided a TV set, an inverter and a DTH connection so that they can enjoy the match,” Gumla DC Shishir Kumar said.
