Villagers from Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district decided to take matters into their own hands and build a steel bridge by themselves after the Karnataka government failed to address their concerns.
The villagers crowdfunded the money and replaced the temporary bridge made up of areca palm with the much sturdier bridge, and can now use it to easily cross the rivulet. The bridge was built in 20 days and cost about Rs 1.25 lakh. 50 percent of the money was contributed by the villagers, and the rest was donated by private companies.
“Whenever the rivulet was full due to heavy rains, students and women avoided using the wooden bridge,” said Mahesh Puchchappady, the journalist in the area who took the initiative of building the bridge
The villagers had been appealing to the local MLA S. Angara, now Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Inland Water Transport, for a regular bridge since 2006. After no response, they decided to take onus upon themselves.
After numerous attempts to contact the zilla parishad, local authorities, and elected representatives, the villagers decided to petition PM Narendra Modi in November 2020.
“Following the petition to the Prime Minister, the Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat ordered work on assessing the feasibility and cost of construction of a regular concrete bridge,” Mr Bhardwaj, the civil engineer who worked with Mahesh Puchchappady, told The Hindu.
(With inputs from The Hindu).
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