Jauljibi traders aghast as SSB blocks bridge : The Tribune India

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Jauljibi traders aghast as SSB blocks bridge

PITHORAGARH: The Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) today stopped the movement of people to Nepal through a temporary bridge on the Mahakali river at Jauljibi town in the district after the water level in the river rose.



BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, May 21

The Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) today stopped the movement of people to Nepal through a temporary bridge on the Mahakali river at Jauljibi town in the district after the water level in the river rose. This has left shopkeepers and traders at the Jauljibi market worried as they depend mainly on Nepalese clients for their businesses. The bridge was erected last November to facilitate the annual fair held at Jauljibi every year after the suspension bridge on the river was washed away in flash floods in 2013, SSB sources said.

They said transportation though the bridge became dangerous after the water level in the river started rising last week and reached up to the bridge. “People from both countries will now have to travel 10 km up to the Baluakot bridge to cross over to the other side of the border,” they added.

Former Dharchula MLA Harish Dhami said Nepal under an agreement last year was assigned the construction of a permanent suspension bridge on the Mahakali river at Jauljibi. However, the bridge construction work had been delayed following the massive earthquake in Nepal. “We have decided to contact Nepalese officers in this connection so that the bridge construction work is started soon,” said Dhami.

Shopkeepers in the Jauljibi market in Pithoragarh are a worried lot as they do not see Nepal constructing the bridge as it is still reeling under the impact of the recent massive earthquake and frequent aftershocks. They now expect the Indian government to construct the bridge keeping in view the welfare of the Jauljibi market shopkeepers, who depends totally on Nepalese clients. “Not only shopkeepers of the town but also Nepalese students studying in Indian schools, Nepalese farmers selling goods in the Indian markets and villagers living across the Jauljibi border in Nepal, are dependent on the bridge to travel to and fro India,” said Hashin Bakhsh, a shopkeeper at Jauljibi town.

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