Villagers protest as bridge construction work suspended : The Tribune India

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, July 9

Hundreds of residents of Agojar, Rakkar and Karori areas of Panchrukhi tehsil lodged a protest over the sudden suspension of construction work of a bridge over the Awa river linking their villages. The villagers complained that even earlier, the construction of the bridge was going on at a snail’s pace for the past two years, but the contractor has now suspended the construction work completely.

The proposed bridge would benefit the residents of over one dozen villages of Jaisinghpur constituency.

A visit to the spot revealed that frame structure of the bridge had been laid but there was no headway on the construction of approaches to the bridge. The contractor has also withdrawn his machinery from the site.

The villagers said the contractor had left the construction work half way and no work was going on for the past one month. They said in the absence of a bridge they had to cover a distance of 12 km to reach their villages via Andretta. If the bridge was made operational, the distance would reduce by 10 km.

Their agricultural lands were situated beyond the bridge and they had to cross the Aswa river daily to reach their fields and the adjoining health centre. During the monsoon it was not possible to cross this river. The villagers had also approached the PWD officials, but in vain.

The plan to construct this bridge was mooted in 2006, but in the absence of funds the project remained confined to files. After a hue and cry by the villagers, Jaisinghpur BJP MLA Ravinder Dhiman managed funds from the state government and the construction of the bridge was taken up.

The MLA said the matter was already in his notice and he had directed the PWD to resume the construction work immediately and also impose a penalty on the erring contractor. He assured the villagers that the bridge would be completed in the next three months.