Odisha Villagers Construct Temporary Wooden Bridge Amid Government Inaction
Despite repeated requests to the block and district administrations, villagers claim their appeals for a permanent bridge have gone unanswered.
Bhubaneswar: Residents of Sarala Padar village in Odisha’s Gajapati district have built a temporary wooden bridge for themselves over the local Harabhangi river, citing long-standing government neglect and the absence of basic infrastructure.
The village, located in Mohana block, has been without a bridge for decades, forcing locals, including students, to navigate a dangerous river crossing to access essential services such as the gram panchayat office, schools, and healthcare facilities.
Despite repeated requests to the block and district administrations, villagers claim their appeals for a permanent bridge have gone unanswered. Frustrated with the lack of action, they took matters into their own hands, constructing the makeshift bridge.
“The previous government ignored our requests for 25 years. No one cares about the risks we face daily. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable as they struggle to cross the river,” said one villager.
Another local resident echoed the sentiment, saying, “We approached the Block Development Officer (BDO) and the district Collector several times, but nothing was done. Left with no choice, we built the wooden bridge ourselves.”
In another incident, residens Bageipadar village in Koraput district were on Tuesday forced to carry the dead body of a person wading through a swollen river to reach the crematorium ground due to the absence of a bridge over the river.
According to reports, the villagers carried the dead body of the person by entering through the river in spate to reach the other side for performing funeral rites in the crematorium.
The villagers alleged that they have been facing multiple problems in their day-to-day life due to the absence of a permanent bridge on the river. They recounted that a woman died recently as she could not be provided urgent medical attention due to the communication issue.
According to Ganesh Raju, a social activist, the villagers’ initiative in Gajapati district and Koraput incident highlight the ongoing struggles in many interior regions of Odisha, where access to basic infrastructure remains a distant goal.