Bantwal: Absence of Adequate Footbridge Puts Lives at Risk

Report and Pics: Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal (RD)

Bantwal, Aug 7: People in the city may avoid venturing out in heavy rains so as not to catch a cold. Their fellow citizens in a village do the same, so as not to risk losing their lives.

It is the miserable tale of the people living in the border of Kantukody and Gittattadka villages in Bantwal taluk, a vital link to Puttur town. Despite modernity making inroads into every sphere of life across the nation, the people in these villages have to cross a rivulet with a rickety footbridge to procure their daily necessities, and to go to schools and colleges.

When it rains, they just cannot venture out of their houses. They have to wait for many hours for the water level in the rivulet to recede. If they run out of basic necessities like rice, they have to go hungry, because the nearest shop is across the river which is too risky to cross in heavy rains.

The state has been releasing crores of rupees for rural development, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference for the people here. They are forced to trudge through their lives, disconnected from the rest of the world, waiting for a decent bridge.

Kantukody and Gittattadka villages under Kedila and Perne gram panchayats come under Bantwal taluk, but are under Puttur legislative assembly constituency. There are over 20 families living in the neighbourhood, and majority of them depend on Puttur town for their daily necessities. But to reach the town they have no other way than to cross the rivulet by a narrow footbridge. If one does not want to take risks, then the other option is to cover a round-about route of 10 kilometers to Puttur town. In an emergency case like sickness or onset of labour pains, the person is left at the mercy of god.

A family living in Gittattadka erected an areca footbridge across the rivulet, spending their hard earned money, on the occasion of a wedding in their family. It was built by erecting two halves of an areca plant across the rivulet, with a long bamboo shoot as a 'railing' for support while crossing. The rickety apparatus needs skills, and a little slip of the foot may turn fatal.

Now, due to incessant rains, the surface of the areca bridge has become slippery. When the water level recedes, a majority of the people prefer to cross the rivulet rather than use the makeshift bridge.

The locals and the heads of Kedila and Perne gram panchayats have been urging the people’s representatives to build a permanent bridge for many years now but in vain, said local gram panchayat member Raghaveshwar Bhat.

It was during the time of Dakshina Kannada district-in-charge minister Nagaraj Shetty that the process of approving funds for laying a new footbridge reached its final stages, but Nagaraj Shetty had to resign from the post and was appointed as chairman of Coastal Development Authority (CDA). The proposal was pushed to the backburner and has not materialised to date.

MLA Mallika Prasad said a proposal was later forwarded by the state administration to CDA in order to lay a footbridge. The proposal was to lay 51 footbridges in Puttur legislative assembly constituency and to begin the works at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Kedila gram panchayat president Muddappa Rai and Perne gram panchayat president Taniyappa Poojary said that they will try to arrange funds with the help of local MLAs to erect a proper footbridge.

The need for a bridge for the suffering locals has to be realised at the earliest, but is anyone listening to their plight?