No footbridge, schoolkids wade through flooded rivulet in Mandi

Dipender Manta

Mandi, July 15

The safety of students of Government Senior Secondary School at Ghaniyar in the Balichowki area of Mandi district is at stake in the absence of a bridge on the Thatta rivulet that they cross daily.

Due to continuous heavy rainfall, all water bodies in the dstrict are in spate these days.

Fearing threat to the lives of their school-going children, the residents of Bungjahalgad and Thatta panchayats have requested the Deputy Commissioner to direct the Public Works Department (PWD) to build a footbridge on the Thatta rivulet to avoid any untoward incident during the rainy season. A video has gone viral on social media that shows students struggling to cross the flooded rivulet while on their way to their school.

Devi Thakur, a resident of Thatta panchayat, says, “Earlier, there was a footbridge on the rivulet but it was damaged when a road was constructed from Thatta to Satwali in Balichowki tehsil two years ago. There is an urgent need to construct a footbridge on the rivulet for the safety and convenience of students and other people, especially during the rainy season.”

Vijay Pal Singh, a Congress leader from Seraj, says, “The Balichowki area falls in the Seraj Assembly constituency of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. It is surprising that students in Balichowki are facing such a problem due to the apathy of the PWD.”

Demanding that he the Chief Minister should direct the PWD as well as the district administration to construct a footbridge on the rivulet to ensure public safety, he said, “Besides schoolchildren, other people of the area also have to cross the rivulet to visit other areas.”