A bridge over the Sikrahna (Buri Gandak) continues to be only a visual relief and of no use to 60,000 people of 35 flood-prone villages in the Tiruwah region of the district.

Constructed at Rs 25 crore, the bridge was expected to be a lifeline for the residents of the villages in Banjariya block, who remain marooned almost throughout the year because of deluge.

However, the dream of easy connectivity between Banjariya and the district headquarters continues to be a distant dream because the district administration could not acquire land to build an approach road to the bridge.

The bridge, the foundation of which was laid at Jatwa village by chief minister Nitish Kumar on November 20, 2009, would have reduced the distance from Banjariya to Raxaul from 56km to 40km.

Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam (State Bridge Construction Corporation) was asked to construct the bridge by a year-and-a-half. Though the corporation met the deadline, Nitish could not inaugurate the bridge during his Seva Yatra in April this year.

According to sources, part payment of compensation against the acquired land was a major hurdle towards construction of the approach road to connect Jatwa and Siswania villages from either side.

Enamul Haque, a resident of Jatwa, said: “Only a few persons in the villages have so far received compensation, while most are yet to be compensated for their land because of one reason or another.”

District land acquisition officer Awadhesh Pandey told The Telegraph: “Compensation has been paid to more than half the persons whose land were acquired for the bridge.”