Bhubaneswar
In the last couple of years, certain tribal-dominated areas in Odisha have witnessed something unique. When the Government failed to tread in, tribals have rushed in to build bridges that would make their daily commutes far easier even while saving considerable amount of time.
The wooden bridge, set up by the Kondh community in Jagdish of Odisha’s Kandhamal district to make their difficult commutes easy, bears testimony to the tribals’ endeavours.
Motivated and mobilized by ‘Kandhamal Zilla Sabuja Vaidya Sangathana’ (KZSVS) and supported by Delhi-based ‘Goonj’, about 35 tribal families in Jagdish build the bridge over the river in their village with waste wood and bamboos. They collected bamboos and abandoned tree trunks from the nearby forest and bound them together with thick ropes, ‘saili lai’ (a tree bark) and nails to build the bridge, marking their diligence and determination.
Earlier, they had to traverse nearly 32 kilometres to reach the block headquarters of Daringbadi. Now the bridge has reduced the distance by 17 kilometres.
Similarly, villagers of Patapanga under Ranipanga panchayat also set up a bridge between Daringbadi and Kotogada blocks. The villagers had to cover nearly 120 kilometres to reach the block headquarters of Kotagada earlier but with the bridge in place that has now reduced by about 35 kilometres.
Toeing the same line, tribals have set up such bridges for 32 villages in Kandhamal under the aegis of KZSVS. Mountain Man Dashrath Majhi of Bihar must be smiling from above.
“We encouraged them to use their indigenous knowledge to build the bridge after they failed to impress upon government agencies about the need of a bridge,” KZSVS secretary Dinabandhu Maharana told The Indian Tribal.
Villagers also build stone bridges that are usually preferred if the breadth between two opposite banks of a river is too wide, and the depth of the riverbed is not much. “Thus four stone bridges have come up for 12 villages in Daringbadi and Potagada Blocks,” says Nibanti Digal of Jagdish.
“Longevity of wooden bridges is usually four years, if there is no cyclonic storm,” he pointed out.
Lack of coordination between Government agencies and their building contractors are the oft-quoted stories here. One such tale tells about a contractor who had abandoned completing a concrete bridge in Mandibanda with its opposite ends remaining agape. Villagers stone-packed the ends after a mishap claimed the life of a man in 2017.
The cooperation among villagers is in sharp contrast to the lack of coordination at the Government level, villagers said adding work done by them never fetches any wage in cash.
The NGO ‘Goonj’ presents a kit to every villager as an incentive. “The kit contains clothes, ration or utensils,” says Suresh Kumar, the chief of Goonj of Bhubaneswar unit.
