Construction of fair weather roads and bridges is an annual affair in Jagatsinghpur district. If sources are to be believed, 15 fair weather roads are constructed in the district every year. But not many of them are used at the time of need as either they are left halfway through or their condition is unusable. In some cases, work is not completed as money sanctioned for the purpose is siphoned by engineers or contractors.
A case in point is the fair weather bridge at Posal village under Tirtol block. The Department of Rural Development had sanctioned `12 lakh for construction of the Posal-Tirtol fair weather bridge on river Mahanadi in the village. As a part of the construction, a wooden bridge was constructed first over the river in 2012 and people of six panchayats - Krishanandapur, Kanimul, Bisanpur, Danilo, Gopalpur and Kolar. But no concrete step has been taken up to repair or renovate the bridge. Besides, since the approach roads from both ends to the bridge were not completed, the bridge was of little use.
People alleged that since poor standard of wood was used in construction of the bridge, it has become weak now.
Posal village chief Sarat Chandra Senapati said construction of these fair weather bridges are going on in just pen and paper. “Lakhs of rupees meant for construction of Posal-Tirtol fair weather bridge has been embezzled by government officials. What we ultimately got is a rickety wooden bridge which people fear to use,” he alleged, adding that a probe should be made into the matter.
Executive Engineer, Rural Development, UN Subudhi said no complaint has yet been received about poor standard of materials being used in the bridge on river Mahanadi. “If we get a complaint, we will conduct a probe into it,” he said.
In fact, this is not the solitary case, said member of district level Vigilance Monitoring Committee Debendra Mallick. “Similar is the plight of other fair weather bridges that were constructed on rivers Devi, Paika and Chitrotpala in the district. We receive allegations about misappropriation of lakhs of rupees through false and fake bills for construction of fair weather bridges every year,” he said.