Villagers join hands to repair a broken bridge at Tantiapala. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, Aug.6: A dilapidated bridge has united the residents of a cluster of coastal villages in this part of the state.

Let down by the government, villagers volunteered labour and generated funds to successfully repair the bridge and restore connectivity between the villages.

“It was too hazardous to walk on the iron railing structured bridge at Tantiapala. We appealed to the authorities several times to repair the bridge. But, all our appeals seem to have fallen on deaf ears,” said Hemanta Rout, a local resident and schoolteacher. Rout took the lead in mobilising the local residents for this community mission.

“After school children began falling down from the rickety bridge and got seriously injured, we decided to repair the bridge all by ourselves. Now, we have been able to make the bridge fit for pedestrians,” Rout added.

Over 3,000 residents in the villages of Barahapur, Tantiapal and Bhopala, under Rajnagar tehsil, were cut-off from the rest of the world for the dilapidated bridge.

As the World Bank funded culture project came up here on 1996, the bridge was built by the state fisheries department.

Before that, villagers used to ferry across Tantiapala creek to reach from one place to the other. As the World Bank project failed, the state fisheries department left the bridge ill-maintained.

“Atmospheric salinity also took heavy tool on it leading to corrosion of iron plates and railings. As a result, the bridge gradually started to dilapidate and fell into pieces,” said Ashok Khandual, resident from Barahapur village.

Local children, most of whom used to study at the nearby Swapneswar High School, falls down from the bridge regularly. Only in the last month, 25 children slipped from the bridge and received serious injuries.

It was the residents of three nearby villages who called up a meeting at the high school premises on the issue of the children’s safety. As repeated appeals to the government to repair the bridge went in vain, the villagers in the meeting decided to go themselves all the way.

“We did not have to generate funds for repairing the bridge. Bamboo was collected from the villages, while around Rs 500 was spent for purchasing aluminium wires to bind the bamboo. The high school authorities helped us to repair the bridge by giving the money from their contingency fund,” he added.

Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda, energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, and Rajnagar MLA Alekh Jena had all inspected the bridge. All of them promised to repair the bridge, but none of them turned up doing so.

“What the government could not do in months, we did in six hours. Pedestrian movement on the bridge has now been restored. We were running from pillar to post to repair the bridge all these days. Their inaction prompted us to take up the bridge repair work by community endeavour,” said Bapi Khandual, a local youth.