IDUKKI: Scattered debris, no prior experience and gushing rainwater... Still, Friends of Kattappana, a charity organisation of youngsters in Idukki spent five full hours to rebuild the Santhipalam bridge on Sunday.
The youngsters dived into the stormy waters and collected the scattered stones to repair the bridge over Periyar river in the Mlamala-Chappath road that connects over 100 plantation families of Mlamala village with the Vandiperiyar town.
That they were not familiar with hard labour did not deter them from manually removing the huge timbers which hindered the water flow. "It was a very risky affair. But our brave members went into the water by tying a rope around their body and cleared the obstacles. Then, we laid the collected rocks on the sides and filled the pathway with soil and rocks using an earthmover. We started by 11am and completed the work before 4pm," said Joshy Manimala, president, Friends of Kattappana.
Pushing the Mlamala, 12km away from Mullaperiyar dam, into dire straits, Santhipalam collapsed during the 2018 floods and since then, the villagers were forced to rely on temporary arrangements. But for the past two weeks, they were completely cut off from the mainland. Except for a few men who could swim through the floodwaters to reach the other side, no one from the village had access to the essential services.
"The plight of women and children of the village prompted us to take up the repair. Most of them are plantation workers and they didn't have any other means to reach the town in case of an emergency. Though there are a few pocket roads to Vandiperiyar through tea estates, it is unsafe to use them on emergency," he said.
Though they started the work with a few hands, more people joined in by noon. "There were only 25 members in the beginning. After we went live on Facebook, many people from organisations like Orthodox Christian Youth Movement (OCYM) and Kattappana off-road club joined in. By noon, our strength swelled to 150. All of them came voluntarily. In the end, we drove a few vehicles over the bridge much to the happiness of the villagers," Joshy said.
Interestingly, students of Fathima High School in Mlamala had reached out to Kerala High Court twice since the last year to find a solution to their hardships. Three weeks ago, the court directed the state government to repair the bridge after it received over 1,400 letters from the students.