Odisha villagers risk life on rickety boats

JAGATSINGHPUR: For the residents of 15 gram panchayats in Erasama block, boats are the only recourse to reach Paradip. They risk their lives everyday while crossing Mahanga river as a bridge called Biju Setu, meant to connect the villages with the port town is yet to become functional due to official apathy. 

Work on the bridge was started in 2014 at a cost of Rs 15 crore and supposed to become functional in 2016. But it is yet to be completed.

The project was aimed at generating support of locals for the proposed Posco steel plant. Owing to stiff resistance by anti-Posco activists, it was decided to build the structure near Baliamara for transporting construction materials for the Posco project through Erasama instead of Kujang and Paradip. 

But once the South Korean major called off its big-ticket investment in the area, work on the bridge, which would have benefited 15,000 people of 15 gram panchayats in Erasama, came to a standstill. The locals said the construction agency entrusted with the task of constructing the bridge has been delaying the project. 

They said no official of Rural Development department, responsible for execution of the project, has visited the site in the last four years. Around 50 villages under the panchayats are located just a few kilometres from Paradip but their residents have no option but to travel around 15 km on unsafe boats. 

Executive engineer of Rural Development department Anant Kumar Satpathy said construction of the bridge was delayed due to the pandemic and defects in pillars. The defect was caused due to rise in water level of Mahanga river while the pillars were being erected. He said the bridge would become functional by March next year.