Sans bridge, Koraput villagers take perilous journey through swollen river to reach destinations

At a time when the Odisha government is busy blowing its own trumpet over infrastructural development, several interior pockets of the State still lack basic facilities. Motorable roads, potable water supply, river bridges remain a distant dream for many villages in the State.

A glaring example of persistent infrastructure woes is Dasamantapur block in Koraput district. Without a bridge over Baliguda River, the residents of six villages under the block risk their lives while crossing the river for their daily needs.   

The onset of monsoon and the rise in the water level of the river have added to the woes of the local residents.

May it be school students or elderly persons, all of them are forced to take a perilous journey to their destinations, sources said.

Students risk their lives and wade through the river to reach their schools, while elderly persons walk through knee-deep water to collect PDS rice.

Unfortunately, the residents of Charada village under Laxmipur block in the district are also forced to carry the dead bodies through this river to reach the crematorium to perform their last rites. 

Even after running from pillar to post, all their cry for the construction of the bridge has fallen on deaf ears, the locals alleged.