Khunti, Sep 8 (PTI) Nearly 300 people did ‘shramdaan’ (community voluntary labour) to construct a diversion road alongside a collapsed bridge on Banai River in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, the head of
Pelol village said on Monday.
Shiv Shanker Tiru (42), gram pradhan of Pelol village under Bichna panchayat, told PTI: “Villagers were frustrated at the empty assurances of Khunti MLA Ram Surya Munda and the district administration. Be it school-going children, pregnant women, farmers or traders — all were facing problems due to the collapsed bridge and the absence of a diversion road.” “With nearly 80 days having already passed since the bridge collapsed, we had no option but to do ‘shramdaan’ to construct a diversion road, not only to alleviate our woes, but also to end the risk of crossing the collapsed bridge,” he added.
According to Tiru, nearly 300 villagers from Pelol and neighbouring villages, including Bichna, Kinjala, Angra Badi, Sarit Khel, Ghagra, Dorma, Sungi and Hassa, joined the effort on Sunday afternoon.
“We pooled in Rs 10,000 using contributions from villagers, arranged stone chips, cement bags, sand from the river bank, soil and boulders, and hope to complete the diversion road construction by Monday evening. The diversion road stretch runs over 200 metres and is nearly five metres wide,” he added.
“This is an example of the failure of the government machinery in addressing basic problems of the villagers and only giving false assurance. We had seen how the local MLA had even laid the foundation stone of the diversion road in June. But not a single stone has been placed. No government officials have even bothered to visit us,” alleged Laxman Mahato, a farmer at Pelol taking part in the ‘shramdaan’.
The bridge collapsed on June 19 due to heavy rains. The incident drew headlines when a video went viral showing several school students scaling a 25-foot bamboo ladder to cross the collapsed bridge on their way to school. After the video surfaced, the administration stopped the practice and assured villagers that alternate arrangements would be made soon.
Repeated attempts to contact Khunti MLA and JMM leader Ram Surya Munda on his mobile phone went unanswered.
Khunti Deputy Commissioner R. Ronita told PTI: “Soon after the bridge collapse, a process was initiated by the district administration to repair it and construct a diversion road. The work had to be done by the Road Construction Division (RCD) of the state government. We had informed the officials, and the tender work was completed. A work order has also been issued not only for the repair of the bridge but also for the construction of the diversion road. I will speak to the executive engineer of the RCD unit in Khunti about why they have not started the diversion road construction till now.” PTI ANB MNB
