Malkangiri: Three weeks after Orissa POST published a report about the plight of people in remote villages in Malkaigiri in the absence of a bridge across Tamasa river, the state government took the issue seriously and has decided to complete the incomplete bridge by March.
After publication of the report, Dibas Kumar Sahu, a social activist of Bargarh district, had tweeted it to the Chief Minister, the engineer of the rural development department, the secretary and the Malkangiri Collector, attaching paper cuttings of the reports published in OP and Odia daily Dharitri.
Besides, he had also written to the Collector and the executive engineer of the RWD-2, seeking expeditious steps to fasttrack the work of the bridge at Pitakata.
The bridge is being constructed across Tamasa river under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana-2.
Due to the pandemic situation now and rainy season, work on the bridge was affected. Work of three spans of the bridge has been completed while two more spans are to be done.
It was learnt that the rural development department has decided to complete the work by March, 2021.
Once completed, the perennial commuting problem for thousands of people living in Kalimela and Potteru panchayats will be resolved.
Locals said seven decades after Independence, lack of commuting infrastructure has been a major problem in hilly and remote areas crisscrossed by multiple rivers.
Though work on some bridge projects was undertaken years ago, their construction allegedly moves at a snail’s pace.
According to locals, every year floods in Kadigada and Saptadhar rivers leave people miserable in fringe areas of Malkangiri and Koraput districts. In the absence of bridges, life comes to a standstill for days together.
Some bridges have been built across rivers in 2002.They have sorted out commuting problems to some extent. However, people in Kalimela and Potteru panchayats have been suffering a lot in the absence of a bridge on the Tamasa river.
They had long been demanding a bridge across the river near Kanyashram. In view of the problem, the government undertook construction of a bridge two years ago, but only 30 per cent of the work was completed.
It was learnt that the contractor has failed to complete the work in time while no action is being taken against him.
Another bridge project near MV-11, Korukunda and Tarlakota villages has remained incomplete. Once completed, the bridge will facilitate communication between Malkangiri and Balimela via Chitrakonda.
“The bridge work at Tarlakota and Korukunda is being carried out at slow pace,” locals alleged. The district administration had held a meeting on disaster management May 7 and laid stress on expediting bridge projects.
PNN