Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, July 03: While Andaman and Nicobar Islands are witnessing rapid development, the residents of Ward No. 06 and 05 of Madhupur village under Diglipur Tehsil have been facing severe hardships for the last 6-7 decades, due to lack of a bridge over a village nallah.
As per villagers school-going children are facing severe trouble owing to non-availability of a bridge over the nallah bifurcating Ward No. 6 and 5 of this village. Since the school is on the other side i.e. in Ward No. 5 and partly 6 as well, their wards have to walk about three and half kilometers (3.5kms) to reach the school while it is merely a couple of minutes’ walking distance if a bridge is constructed.
Villagers of the area told Andaman Sheekha Correspondent that they are compelled to get their children admitted to another govt. schools in Subhashgram only due to non-availability of a bridge over the nallah, and during the rainy season this nallah swells up to its brim. “The nallah is infested with crocodiles and two people have already lost their lives in the nallah,” the villagers claimed.
And not only school children, other residents of the village are equally affected because the Sub-Centre and the Panchayat Bhavan are situated on the other side of this nallah.
As a result, in the event of any medical emergency, residents of this Ward No. 06 have to go to CHC, Diglipur as there is no bridge across the nallah to cross over and reach the Sub-Centre situated in Ward No. 05, the women of the area lamented. SmtiBinodini Roy, Ward Member from Ward No. 06 said how unfortunate it is that their children have to go to other villages for education while there exists a school in their own area.
With an imploring gesture, the Ward Member said that their grievance be heard by the Administration and duly redressed with the construction of a footbridge at least for the sake of school-going children and medical emergencies.
Showing dissatisfaction, a resentful elderly of this area said that it is their long cherished demand of a bridge across this nallah, but the leaders and the administration have paid only lip service to this issue up to this day; many leaders and officials from local administration visited and saw the peril and problems attached to this nallah with their own eyes, and initially they took initiative and which ultimately died down with passage of time and no plan has been formulated and implemented yet.
On the other hand, the required portion of land was surrendered by Sukharanjan Mistry, a Regd. Settler of the area for the construction of the proposed bridge over the nallah about 4-5 years ago. About five years ago, a proposal in respect of the bridge in question, “Construction of 1 No. a footbridge near Manoranjan Mistry house at Madhupur” was taken in DPC meeting as disclosed by Mr. Sribash Das, ZillaParishad Member, Madhupur Constituency.
Amid dissatisfaction and resentment, Mr. Das seemed to be positive who said that he would take up the matter and plead with the Administration for its redressal and was also hopeful that the Administration will undeniably address this matter and very soon the dwellers of this area will be facilitated with a footbridge.
Leave a Reply