Anandapur: Thousands of men and women Monday turned up at over 130 temples in Belabahali here in Keonjhar district praying that the High Court rules in their favour over the controversial Kusei bridge issue.
The villagers have been agitating for the last one year demanding shifting of the location of the proposed bridge over river Kusei on NH-215 at Belabahali and have been at loggerheads with the administration ever since.
However, the administration proceeded with construction at Siapada August 16 overruling protests.
Belabahali Anchalika Surakhya Manch, a local outfit, had earlier filed a PIL in the High Court over the matter. The court heard the PIL and asked the administration to halt construction work till Monday. Though the case was fixed for hearing the same day, the court was adjourned after the first session following the death of a High Court lawyer.
The case involving the interest of thousands of people would be heard Tuesday,.
The villagers are on their toes, fervently hoping that the ruling comes in their favour. The issue saw violent protests break out in the past, leading to several people as well as police officers getting injured and scores of villagers getting arrested.
Bhubaneswar: With a High Court ruling on the Kusei bridge expected Tuesday, Belabahali villagers feel their legitimate demand has been continuously ignored by the administration.
“Technical committees set up by the government have recommended that the length of the bridge at the proposed site should be at least 600 m in order to ensure that at least 50 downstream villages are not put at risk during floods,” said Belabahali Suraksha Manch chief Pramod Kumar Prusty.
“However, a group of people with vested interests have been attempting to reduce the length of the proposed bridge to 360 m at the same site. But the width of the river at the spot is 600 m. Now authorities are planning to silt the river on both sides to reduce its width to 360 m. Doing so will cause irreparable harm as the downstream villages including Belabahali panchayat will be at risk during floods,” said Prusty, criticising the NHAI for ‘deliberately ignoring’ the technical committee’s report under the influence of a few vested interest groups.
While the proposed bridge will be built on the upper catchment area of the village, an existing bridge over the Kusei is on the lower catchment area. That bridge is part of the NH-215.
Prusty said the villagers are not opposing the construction of the bridge at the proposed site, but are demanding that the length of the bridge should not be less than the river’s to ensure free drainage of river water during floods.
People of at least 20 villages including Belabahali will be affected by floods due to the faulty technical policy of the government, warned Ratnakar Sahoo, another member of the Manch. PNN
