Udupi: Bavali Kudru Islanders Seek Bridge Linking Mainland
News & Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (RD/VA)
Udupi, Feb 17: The people residing in Bavali Kudru (Island of Bats) which is situated in the middle of river Sita, Neelavar here have demanded state government to build a bridge connecting the mainland.
‘It’s not an easy task to live in this island. One has to be brave enough to face the nature’s challenges. The residents here are trying to live along with daily struggles. The Sitanadi, rivulet that flows in the vicinity poses them greater obstacles for daily survival.
Bavali Kudru derived its name from the bat colony that prevailed few decades ago. Now there are no more bats in the region due to the felling of trees that sheltered them for centuries.
This beautiful island is a classic example of remote village that resembles the state of pre-Independence era. The people live here since five generations.
Bavalikudru lies in a radius of 100 kilometers. The paddy, palm, areca and other commercial crops including sugarcane are grown in the island. The vegetables grow abundantly and are a main source of income for the islanders. The islanders constitute about 30 Christian joint families.
The Adversity of Monsoon Season
The residents of Bavali Kudru need to stay indoors during the entire monsoon season as the rising waters in the Sitanadi inundate large part of landmass. It’s the time even the expert of boatmen find it difficult to venture into flood waters even to ferry the schoolchildren and other residents.
The new generations of islanders are migrating to other regions where they can find gainful employment, while there are a few brave determined islanders continue to live despite struggle for daily living. The islanders also face acute shortage of drinking water in spite Sitanadi flows in the vicinity. They depend on wells for fetching drinking water.
Although the island has transmission lines of both electricity and telecommunications, the break-down rates are quite high. The response from technical assistants is very poor, since they try not to dare the nature’s obstacles in reaching the island.
The people’s representatives come to Bavali Kudru seeking votes whenever there are general elections and assembly polls and offer assurances of building a bridge linking the island with the mainland and the issue is forgotten later.
The engineering department of ZP has prepared a blue-print for laying a bridge in Bavali Kurdru at an estimated cost of Rs 33 lac. Rajya Sabha member Oscar Fernandes has already released Rs 15 lac from his union funds for constructing the bridge. Udupi MLA Raghupati Bhat has been trying to set-off the shortfall of Rs 13 lac out of Natural Calamities Fund in this regard. This issue has been referred to deputy commissioner for the speedy commencement of construction works.