Koraput (Odisha): After years of indifference by the administration and the careless attitude of the construction company since 2017, the residents of Madhubishali, Salpguda, Tetliguda, Maltiguda, Chakli, and Jhabrapadar of Nandigaon panchayat in Dasmantpur block have built a bridge over the river that flows near the panchayat headquarters. The bridge was built using locally-available materials like bamboo, wood, nut volts, tyres, nails, and ropes.
Earlier, the villagers used to face problems crossing the river as they had to find spots with less water current, and in 2017, after repeated demands from the villagers, the NBCC construction company was given the responsibility to construct a 76.05-meter-long bridge across the river by the Rural Development Department.
The bridge was supposed to be completed by 2019 with a total target cost of Rs 277.8 lakhs but due to the arbitrariness of the developer and the government's indifference to the villagers' plight, the was work stopped after digging potholes in the river for the construction of the bridge and as a result, the water of the river, after the downpour, used to flow into the residential area of the village.
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The villagers raised complaints as they could not commute to the hospital on the other side of the river and many of the villagers lost their lives due to lack of treatment, villagers said. Whereas, the teachers of the primary school of the village also stopped coming to the school for about four months a year.
Kumunath Naik, a resident of Madhubishali village said, "The construction company and the district administration have ignored the requests and demands of the villagers. The villagers on both sides of the river raised money and shared labor to build a temporary bridge on the river with bamboo and wood."
