In another shocking incident of its kind, villagers of Badatundi under Gajapati district’s Rayagada block were forced to carry a co-villager’s dead body on shoulders and cross Jalanga river on Friday due to lack of a bridge.
The plight of the villagers is that an under-construction bridge, for which foundation-stone had been laid in 2013, is yet to be even half-completed.
People of Badatundi and some other hillside villages cross the Jalanga river to go to Rayagada and Paralakhemundi for marketing, medical treatment and other purposes. The sloppy river carries water and flows with a current throughout the year.
Most of the times, villagers come from their villages early in the morning and wait for the river to recede. After the river recedes, they cross the river and go to their destinations. They also return early to cross the river safely. Receding and swelling of water in the river is witnessed everyday in non-monsoon seasons and trends last for more than one day in rainy seasons.
To provide a road communication, Brahampur MP Siddhant Mohaptra had laid a foundation stone for a bridge, proposed to be constructed by the District Rural Development Agency, over the river in 2013. However, a part of the bridge has not been completed and the reason is not known to anybody else.
Recently, a Badatundi villager, Bisikesan Sabar, who was suffering from a disease, had been staying in his sister’s house at Champa Sahi on the Rayagada side of the river for going to hospital on a regular basis.
However, Bisikasan died on Friday morning. The family members and villagers risked their lives and crossed the river carrying the body on shoulders to reach the village for cremation.
Earlier too, such incidents have happened.
locals, most of whom are tribals, have demanded that the State Government conduct an investigation as to why the bridge has not been completed after four years of stone laying and construct the bridge as soon as possible.