KOCHI: The history of Goshree bridges will be incomplete without the mention of Ernakulam Bridge Action Council formed in 1986. The members of the action council fought for nearly 14 years to make the dream of a bridge connecting all major islands, including Vypeen, with the city, a reality.
The residents of the islands around Kochi mainly depended on the ferry services to reach the city and it was Sahodaran Ayyappan, who was a Minister in the Cochin Legislative Assembly, who proposed the idea of the construction of the bridge.
However, his plans got stalled in the midway because of the merger between Cochin and Travancore to form Thiru-Kochi Assembly. For nearly three decades after the initial procedures, the idea of the bridge remained in papers. During mid 1980s, the there were reports in some news papers that the then government scrapped the idea of constructing the bridges which ignited widespread protests among the residents of islands who were living in an isolated condition because of the non-connectivity to the main land. Thus, in October 1986, an action council was formed. Thus was formed the Vypeen Ernakulam Bridge Action Council. Among various agitations that they conducted, it was the novel and unique way of protest that they launched in 1987 which opened the eyes of the administrators.
On August 29, 1989, the action council members made a model bridge using country boats. A total of 400 country boats were arranged in the backwaters in the shape of a bridge connecting Bolgatty to Ernakulam. More than 1000 islanders crossed the temporary bridge made of country boats in protest against the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities concerned. And the protests by the islanders continued till 2000, till the foundation stone was laid in December 29, 2000.