Public demand, repair of flood damaged bridge

Tamulpur: An important bridge connecting several villages on the India-Bhutan border was damaged by this year’s floods, but the administration has taken no initiative to repair the damaged bridge or construct a new one.

The vital bridge over the Kalanadi river on the Kumarikata-Jalaah link road was damaged due to the release of large quantities of water from the neighboring country during the last monsoon season. The damage to this bridge was so extensive that it was closed to the public by authorities.

After this incident, thousands of people from nearby villages are facing difficulty in crossing. Since it is dry season now, and the river is almost dry, people are easily crossing the water by crossing the dry river bed. But this possibility will not be there when monsoon arrives. Due to lack of proper infrastructure, they will be forced to use risky methods of communication, even for the hundreds of students and senior citizens who need to travel through that route.

Locals have mentioned that more than 20 villages in the area depend on this route as their primary road of communication and have repeatedly approached the authorities to take necessary action for repairing or constructing a new bridge. But till now no action has been taken by the authorities in this regard.

It is noteworthy that a large number of vehicles are now forced to use the risky route through the river. Since dumpers, trucks, tractors, small four-wheelers and two-wheelers are forced to use this route, the number of accidents is also increasing and a large number of lives are being put at risk every day.

Local people have demanded that the administration take immediate steps to ensure that the project is completed before the next monsoon rains.