RAYAGADA: With the district administration turning a blind eye to their woes, villagers of Tala and Upara Sajja have started constructing a hanging wooden bridge over Nagavali river to remain connected to Kalyansinghpur block.
Come rainy season and the two villages are cut-off from the rest of the block headquarters in absence of a bridge.
Villagers said they decided to take the matter in their own hands after repeated requests for a bridge fell on deaf ears of the district administration.
As communication woes worsened with the advent of monsoon this year and the district administration remaining aloof to the situation, villagers decided to construct a bridge over the river.
Suguna Miniaka, a villager, said an amount of Rs 20,000 has been collected from the locals which will be used to build the bridge.
The height of the hanging bridge will be 12 feet to protect it from the swelling waters of Nagavali during the rainy season.
Aluminium wires will be used to bind the wooden planks to be held together by cables suspended from poles, he informed.
The construction work started a few days back and the bridge is nearing completion. Another villager Sadananda Miniaka said three to four more days are required to complete the bridge which will have a length of 40-50 feet.
Once completed, the bridge will benefit 300 people of the two villages.
The 2017 flash floods destroyed several bridges and brought communication to a standstill in Kalyansinghpur block.
At least seven bridges including one of the Railways were washed away in the floods.
While the railway bridge came up again within a short span of time, the state government is lagging behind in constructing the remaining bridges ignoring the troubles of the people of the area, sources said.
Due to lack of communication, locals, including pregnant women, are dependent on slings and other such modes of transportation to reach the nearby hospital.
Villagers had approached the district administration for construction of a bridge.
The officials had given assurance to construct a Biju Setu and PMGSY road. However, nothing has been done in this regard so far and even the elected members are keeping mum on the issue, he alleged.
Collector Pramod Kumar Behera said he is unaware of the incident. The matter will be inquired after consultations with the BDO and other officials concerned, he said.