A hanging or suspension footbridge, constructed across a river on the foothills of the Western Ghats in Dakshina Kannada for rural connectivity, has been in uninterrupted use for three decades now and continues to build the careers of hundreds of people.
Constructed across the Payaswini at Aramburu near Sullia in 1989 through crowdfunding, it was the first hanging bridge built by Padma Shri B. Girish Bharadwaj, popularly known as the “bridge man”. This August, it will be completing 31 years of service.
Mr. Bharadwaj, a mechanical enginner, built it in consultation with Sullia-based civil engineer Sumitra.
The bridge connected NH275 [Mysuru-Madikeri-Sullia-Mangaluru] with Kerala, the border of which is about 9 km away from the river, at Aramburu on the highway.
Hence it linked about 1,500 homes in about eight villages [such as Baddadkka, Kukkumbala, Paladkka, Majigundi, Aramburu, Nedchilu, Kootelu, Aletti], located between the river and the Kerala border, with the highway and Sullia, the taluk headquarters.
Incidentally, the State government is yet to complete the construction of a pillar-based bridge, sanctioned five years ago, which will be parallel to the hanging bridge.
Sripathi Bhat, a chartered accountant at Sullia and who hails from Majigundi, told The Hindu that the hanging bridge provided a shortcut from Sullia and the highway to the areas between the river and the Kerala border.
If not for the bridge, people needed to travel about 4 to 8 km to reach the highway. “It lifted the economic life of hundreds of people and also gave them a means to get education,” he said.
Earlier, the people depended on a boat to cross the river and it was available only between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
“When I was a CA student, I had to swim to reach home from the highway as the boat service had been closed when I reached Aramburu at 6 p.m. from Puttur,” said Mr. Bhat, who initiated the crowdfunding, recalling the circumstances which forced people to approach Mr. Bharadwaj to build a hanging bridge. It had initially cost only ₹1.1 lakh, he said, adding that Mr. Bharadwaj offered his services for free.
K. Sundar Naik, a retired Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who hails from Aramburu area and who was part of the crowdfunding, said that the bridge built the life of many as otherwise many would have been deprived of higher education and other professions. People could make use of health services owing to the bridge, he said.
Mr. Bharadwaj said that the wooden planks of the bridge were replaced in 1996-97 and after a year its ropes were replaced. Some even took their cattle on the bridge, he said.
S. Angara, MLA from Sullia, said that the parallel bridge, being built at an estimated cost of ₹4.9 crore, will be completed by this year-end.
