Tirupati: In a novel protest, villagers perform puja to collapsed bridge

Tirupati : A novel protest was held against the government and ruling party leaders expressing anger over negligence in taking up the reconstruction of a collapsed bridge at Chiguruwada five km away from Tirupati. The bridge was washed away in the flash floods of Swarnamukhi river following heavy rains three years back. But the reconstruction of the bridge was not taken up so far, causing a lot of inconvenience to thousands of people living in villages across the river. The novel protest was led by Pudipatla sarpanch and OBC state forum convener Badi Sudha Yadav in which large number of affected villagers also participated expressing their resentment on the government and ruling party leaders. Taking a dig at the local leaders’ negligence, Sudha Yadav along with the villagers performed a puja to the collapsed bridge amidst traditional music and dance and cut a cake near the bridge. Yadav and others came holding banners raising slogans condemning the delay in reconstruction of the bridge. Speaking on the occasion, Yadav said the government is spending crores of rupees on fancy projects, while the ruling party leaders were splurging money like water or giving gifts and other unproductive shows, instead of taking up the much needed bridges. It was pity, Yadav said, though bridges were swept away in the Swarnamukhi river flash flood at Chiguruwada, Tiruchanur and Papanaidupeta three years ago, the government had done nothing to reconstruct them so far. He called upon the voters to teach the ruling party a lesson in the ensuing elections. Mallamgunta Dilip Yadav, Chiguruwada Siva, Nagarjuna, Rajashekar and Neelakanta participated were among the leaders who participated in the protest.