Wooden bridge built for kids to reach school
After the bridge was washed away in 2018, we sent a proposal for its reconstruction, but it is yet to be approved
TARA SINGH, PWD official
PITHORAGARH: Residents of eight villages in Bageshwar district and 15 villages in Pithoragarh have begun constructing a wooden bridge on the Ramganga river to enable their wards to reach their school.
The senior secondary school, called intermediate college in Uttarakhand, is situated across the river at Nachni in Pithoragarh district.
“Due to lack of a school in our locality, our wards are enrolled in Nachni intermediate college in Pithoragarh district for studies, but there is no bridge on the river Ramganga since 2018 when the pucca bridge was swept away in the floods. Thereafter, the public works department installed a trolley to ensure the movement of children to school situated across the river but the trolley needed permanent staff to pull the rope when someone is riding on it. We requested the authorities to rebuild the bridge but in vain. Then we decided to take the task on our shoulders to ensure our wards reach the school safely,” said Ram Singh Koranga, a villager of Bageshwar district who is involved in the ongoing construction of the temporary bridge over the river.
“In absence of permanent staff, the guardians had to reach by the river to pull trolleys twice in a day, “said Sher Singh, another villager from Bageshwar district.
According to people who are familiar with the matter, over 150 students from eight bordering villages of Bageshwar district study in Pithoragarh’s GIC Nachni.
Since the installation of the trolley over the river in 2018, two people have died after falling from it.
“There had been a major safety concern. So, the villagers decided to install a wooden bridge with their own resources to enable students to cross the river in winter when the flow of the river gets slow. However, the river flow would start increasing in May due to the melting of snow,” said Koranga.
Harish Bathyal, president of the traders union of Nachin market, said that despite the villagers of both districts demanding reconstruction of the washed away bridge over the river, the PWD officials from both the districts have not yet paid any heed to the problem. “In the absence of a permanent bridge, the villagers from both districts can use the wooden bridge over the river for around 6 months until the river flow increases,” said Bathyal.
PWD engineers from the Bageshwar and Didihat divisions of PWD have said that they had sent a proposal to the higher authorities for the reconstruction of the bridge four years ago, but it is yet to be approved.
“After the bridge was washed away in 2018, we subsequently sent a proposal for its reconstruction, but it is yet to be approved by the higher authorities, ‘’ said Tara Singh, sub-divisional officer (PWD) of Didihat division.