Self-Made Wooden Bridge Only Connection For These Odisha Villagers

Bhawanipatna: The people of Sankhush village here have seen through the false promises of their political leaders and assurances of the authorities. That is why every year, they make their own wooden bridge over the river ‘Rahul’.

They may not have engineering degrees but they do have engineering minds. About 40-50 locals make the bridge every year fastidiously by paying attention to each and every detail, just as an engineer would. The bridge gets washed away every year during the rainy season following heavy rainfall and the villagers reconstruct it with the same zeal.

This bridge is the lifeline of hundreds of residents, including children, old men and women of Sankhush village, cross this wooden bridge every day, 22 km away from Madanpur Rampur block headquarter in Kalahandi district. The block has more than 70 percent tribal dominated populace.  

Jogiram Majhi, 30, said they construct the 90 feet long and four feet wide bridge after piling logs in the water. “We bind both sides of the logs with stick-like iron rods around it and then fill it up with stones in the empty space so that it stays at least for one year.”

Another villager, Ghasiram says, “Wooden pillars are piled up when water recedes in the summer season in a gap of 22 feet distance. Then a slab (roof) is made with sticks, which are tied and nailed  on the pillars. It takes around 20-25 days to complete the makeshift brdige.”

People cross this bridge and then trek for seven km on a narrow road to reach Urladani panchayat to bring rice under the public distribution system (PDS). Even pregnant women are carried on this bridge for a check up. The people of this area will be completely cut off in the absence of this bridge. “We also fetch drinking water from streams flowing from the hills as tubewells are not working anymore,” said another villager, Kaibarta Majhi.

What is irnoic is that politicians come and make false promises to the people after crossing this very wooden bridge. “They never come to see our plight after we vote them to power,” said a wizened old woman, Prabhati Majhi.  Urladani gram panchayat sarpanch, Gandharba Pujari said the villagers have been constructing the wooden bridge for the last 7-8 years. Earlier they were using country made boat to cross the river “Rahul”.

As the place is located in a hilly area, drinking water cannot come out from the tubewells, especially in summer. Three tube wells in Sankush village, one each in Balibaju and Padiguda village had been dug. The only saving grace here is the presence of schools and Anganwadi centres. Apart from Sankhush, more than 2000 people of Kutel, Puljidi and Dakel villages also depend on this wooden bridge. The sarpanch said the government had tendered the construction of a pucca bridge had to connect these villages, measurements were also taken but the work never started.

The block development officer of Madanpur Rampur block, Romana Jafri said a proposal for the construction of a bridge along with a road under Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojna (MMSY) at a cost of Rs 7 crore had been put up. The Rural Works Division of Kesinga has to look into the matter. “We hope that work will begin within a month after an agreement has been made with the contractor.”