THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ending the long wait of the tribal communities of Amboori grama panchayat for a smooth mobility to the town, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the Kumbichalkadavu Bridge on Wednesday.
“When the Neyyar dam reservoir was constructed, Thodumala and its adjacent places nearly became islands. Through the inauguration of this new bridge, the issue is being resolved,” said Pinarayi. In what can be seen as a political reply, he also said that though people think this is the duty of a government, many such schemes never turned into reality in the past.
The bridge will be beneficial for nearly 3,000 people from over 11 hamlets of Amboori grama panchayat and two from the nearby Kallikkadu grama panchayat, who, otherwise, had to depend on boats to travel to the mainland.
The longest and biggest bridge to be built across a river in the state, the Kumbichalkadavu Bridge is expected to open new tourism potentials surrounding Amboori.
Beyond the 253m-long bridge and approach roads, special 4m-wide service roads have also been constructed for people to go to the riverbank.
Reminiscing the early discussions about the bridge, Parassala MLA C K Hareendran said that the completion of the bridge was an emotional journey for him. “I had known about the hardships of these tribal communities since my young days. When I contested for elections in 2016, the people urged that they need a bridge here,” he told TNIE.
Multiple discussions, with the natives, forest minister and chief minister, and later, Hareendran went all the way to Delhi to avail the Union government’s nod. Official permissions, land being held by private individuals, etc posed challenges for the work to proceed.
“Once the approval was granted, we mobilised a fund of Rs 19 crore through KIIFB, which was later increased to Rs 24.71 crore as the work progressed,” Hareendran said.
He also noted that commoners, irrespective of their political stands, extended their support towards the completion of the bridge.
“Before the bridge was built, people had to depend on boats to travel to the hamlets. There have been even instances where pregnant women gave birth to children on their way to hospitals because of this time delay,” he added.
Tough time
Before the bridge was built, people had to depend on boats to travel to the hamlets. There have been even instances where pregnant women gave birth to children on their way to hospitals because of this time delay