Locked down by the pandemic, a group of young people from three remote tribal villages in K. Nuagaon block of Odisha’s Kandhamal district have built a small wooden bridge on a nearby mountain stream.
The wooden bridge is expected to ease the difficulties in communication faced by Tapepada, Kutikia and Daparinga, three small villages in Ledingia panchayat during the months of monsoon. Over most of the year, the mountain stream near Tapepada remains shallow or dry, enabling easy crossing. But during rains, it swells up with the heavy current of flood water flowing down the hill.
Since long, inhabitants of Tapepada, Kutikia and Daparinga have been demanding a culvert for the stream. This year, the continuing lockdown provided local youths the time to come up with a solution on their own.
Chandrakant Mallik, a civil engineering student hailing from Tapepada, who was back home after the closure of his institute, helped with the design of the bridge. Local villagers supported their effort. They collected logs of wood from nearby jungle. Work on the bridge was completed on Sunday.
When contacted, K. Nuagaon, Block Development Officer Manoj Tripathy said he had received reports on the construction of the small bridge by local youths. “I will direct our junior engineer to make an on-the-spot survey to assess the feasibility for the construction of a permanent culvert at the spot,” he said.
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