By IANS
Balasore : Residents of 10 Orissa villages hit by flash floods have erected a wooden bridge across a river after the local administration failed to repair a breach that had cut them off from the rest of the world.
In June, floods washed away the only road connecting villages in Basta block of Balasore district, about 230 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, to the district centre. After repeated but futile requests to the district administration to build a new road, villagers took the matter in their own hands. They used their savings to erect a wooden bridge across the river Jalaka. The construction was completed Friday.
Gopal Behera, a resident of Gohiragadia village said: “We have erected the bridge on a 200-metre-long and 30-metre-deep breach caused by the swirling flood waters of the river Jalaka.”
Nimai Charan Sethi, a resident of Gundurimara village, said: “We have spent around Rs.10,000 on the construction of the bridge. We collected some money from the villagers whom we helped cross the breach on rubber tubes. The rest we donated from our savings,” Sethi added.
With the linking of the two sides of the breach through the wooden bridge, many requirements of villagers are being met. People can now reach health centres and schools.
“The local people, in a show of community empowerment and solidarity, resolved to do what the government wilfully forgot to do,” said Bhaskar Jena, a social activist.