Hazaribagh, Aug. 25: A 1.5km-long bridge that the villagers of Gobindpur panchayat in Chouparan block of Hazaribagh had built on their own with much labour, money and pride has been washed away by rain-fed Koyla river, cutting off 40 hamlets from block and district headquarters.
While the washout occurred on Tuesday, the news reached district authorities only today with deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla holding a meeting with officials to take stock of the situation and declaring to visit the place within the next three days.
The river, which remains conveniently shallow except for monsoon, cannot be crossed during rains, forcing people to take a 20km detour via neighbouring Koderma district's Chandwara block to reach Chouparan.
The villagers wanted an end to this ordeal.
With the administration doing little to bail them out and a government project brushed under the carpet, they pooled in Rs 50 lakh from their own pockets, arranged workers, construction materials and earthmovers and readied the link by July.
But the bridge lacked one thing - technical expertise.
"The new bridge was a boon for us. The block and town could be reached easily, even on four-wheelers, from any of the 40 villages. Taking a boat to cross the river reminded us of the 1996 tragedy, in which a boat capsized, killing six. But see what happened. The bridge got submerged in the river water due to excessive rains over the past few days. We are back to square one," said Triloki Yadav, a resident of Lahrai village who was instrumental in collecting funds and organising people for building the bridge.
He added that he informed Barhi MLA Manoj Yadav of their plight.
Yadav, who visited the area yesterday, said: "At some points on the bridge, the water level had crossed five feet. I will raise this issue at the district monitoring and vigilance committee meeting to be chaired by Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha."
Deputy commissioner Shukla said he was looking at alternative arrangements.
"When I came to know about the bridge, I had asked engineers to see what could be done from our end to strengthen it. But I was told that the quality of bridge was not good as no technical plan was made for it. We will need a big amount, say Rs 60 crore, to construct a new bridge, which means a clearance is needed from the state government. A detailed project report is already pending with the higher officials in Ranchi."
Shukla further said rains had also washed away another bridge at Kandtari in Barkagaon block, prompting them to blacklist the contractor. "We will lodge an FIR soon."
Dam gates opened
Two sluice gates of Charwa Dam in Katkamsandi block were opened today to release excess water after a nearby checkdam developed a leak.
Sources said that the 16-acre checkdam in Godhakkar village was close to town and was the only source of irrigation for three villages, namely Godhakkar, Salmaan and Luta. But after leakage in the morning, water started gushing into Charwa, where water level had already crossed the danger mark because of rains over the last few days.
"The 100-acre Charwa reservoir has the capacity to hold water up to 30 feet. With water crossing 40 feet today, two sluice gates had to be opened," said circle officer of Katkamsandi Santosh Kumar Singh.
